Descriptive

Research
Design
 Descriptive Research
Design
• Survey and Quantitative observation
techniques are vital techniques in descriptive
research designs.
• Survey techniques may be classified by mode of
administration as online, telephone surveys,
face-to-face and postal surveys.
• Survey method of obtaining information is based
upon the use of structured questionnaires
administered to a sample of a target population.
Survey Method
 Measurement and Scaling
Measurement means assigning numbers or other
symbols to characteristics of objects according to
certain pre-specified rules.
1. One-to-one correspondence between the
numbers and the characteristics being
measured.
2. The rules for assigning numbers should be
standardized and applied uniformly.
3. Specification of Rules must not change over
objects or time.
 Scaling
Scaling involves creating a continuum upon
which measured objects are located.
Consider an attitude scale for measuring “attitude
towards movie” from 1 to 5. Each respondent is
assigned a number indicating unfavourable attitude
(measured as 1), neutral attitude (measured as 3) or
favourable attitude (measured as 5).
Measurement is the actual assignment of a number
from 1 to 5 to each respondent.
Scaling is the process of placing the respondents on a
continuum with respect to their attitude.
Scale Characteristics and Level of
Measurement
Description: means the unique labels or
descriptors that are used to designate each
value of the scale. All scales possess
description.
Valu Descriptio Valu Description
e n e
1 Male 1 Strongly
2 Female Disagree
2 Disagree
3 Neutral
4 Agree
5 Strongly
Scale Characteristics and Level of
Measurement
Order: means the relative sizes or positions of
the descriptors. Order is denoted by
descriptors such as greater than, less than,
and equal to.

A participant’s preference for art forms that they

visit can be expressed by the following order,
with the most-preferred art form being listed
first and the least-preferred last:
Cinema
Theatre
Pop concert
Scale Characteristics and Level of
Measurement
Distance: means that absolute differences
between the scale descriptors are known
and may be expressed in units.

Number of persons living in your household____

5
Number of persons living in your household____
4
Number of persons living in your household____
3

A scale that has origin also has distance and order and description.
Scale Characteristics and Level of
Measurement
Origin: means that the scale has a unique or
fixed beginning or true zero point.

What is your household annual income________

20 million
What is your household annual income________
15 million
What is your household annual income________
10 million
 Primary Scales of
Measurement
 The
Nominal Scale
numbers serve only as labels or tags for
identifying and classifying objects.
For example, the numbers assigned to the
participants in a study constitute a nominal scale;
thus, a female participant may be assigned a
number 1 and a male participant 2.
 There is a strict one-to-one correspondence
between the numbers and the objects.
 Only a limited number of statistics, based on
frequency counts, are permissible, e.g.,
percentages, and mode.
 Leisure Time Survey
 Study on how UK
adults spend their
leisure time.
 Questions were related
to the arts, sport,
visitor attractions and
leisure breaks
 Key area was devoted
to the cinema and the
popularity of types of
films.
Leisure Time Survey
 Primary Scales of
Measurement
 A
Ordinal Scale
ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to
objects to indicate the relative extent to which the
objects possess some characteristic.
 Can determine whether an object has more or less
of a characteristic than some other object, but
not how much more or less.
For example, Rank of brands on the basis of preference by consumer
1. Nike
2. Adidas
3. Puma

 Statistics based on centiles, e.g., percentile, quartile,

median.
Leisure Time Survey

Monotonic Transformation
 Primary Scales of
Measurement

Interval Scale
Numerically equal distances on the scale represent
equal values in the characteristic being measured.
 The difference between any two scale values is
identical to the difference between any other two
adjacent values of an interval scale.
Same diff b/w 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 5 and 6
 Statistical techniques that may be used include all
of those that can be applied to nominal and ordinal
data, and in addition the arithmetic mean, standard
deviation, and other statistics commonly used in
marketing research.
 Leisure Time Survey

Linear Transformation
 Primary Scales of
Measurement
Ratio Scale
 Possesses all the properties of the nominal, ordinal,
and interval scales.
 It has an absolute zero point.
 It is meaningful to compute ratios of scale values.
Not only is the difference between 2 and 5 the same as
the difference between 14 and 17, but also 14 is
seven times as large as 2 in an absolute sense.
 All statistical techniques can be applied to ratio data.
Leisure Time Survey
 Classification of Scaling
Techniques
Scaling Techniques

Comparative Scales Non Comparative Scales

Paired Rank order Constan Q Continuo Itemized

Comparis t Sum Sort us Scale Rating
on Scale

Semantic
Likert Differential Stapel
 Comparison of Scaling
Techniques
 Comparative scales involve the direct
comparison of stimulus objects. Comparative
scale data must be interpreted in relative terms
and have only ordinal or rank order properties.
 
 In noncomparative scales, each object is
scaled independently of the others in the
stimulus set. The resulting data are generally
assumed to be interval or ratio scaled.
 Paired Comparison Scaling
 A respondent is presented with two objects and asked to
select one according to some criterion.
 The data obtained are ordinal in nature.
 Paired comparison scaling is the most widely used
comparative scaling technique.
 With n brands, [n(n - 1) /2] paired comparisons are
required.
 For example: A participant may state that they prefer Nike
to Adidas.
 Coca-Cola had conducted more than 190,000 paired
comparisons before introducing New Coke
 Paired Comparison Scaling:
Example
For each pair of brands, please indicate the brand which you prefer to
take purchase with a 1.

Maruti Hyundai Honda Ford

Maruti 0 0 0

Hyundai 1 1 0

Honda 1 0 0

Ford 1 1 1 0

# of times
3 1 2 0
preferred
 Rank Order Scaling
 Respondents are presented with several objects
simultaneously and asked to order or rank them
according to some criterion.
 It is possible that the respondent may dislike the brand
ranked 1 in an absolute sense.
 Furthermore, rank order scaling also results in ordinal
data.
 Only (n - 1) scaling decisions need be made in rank order
scaling.
 Commonly used to measure preferences among brands
and brand attributes
 Rank Order Scaling
Please rank the brands listed below in order of
preference. For the brand you prefer the most, assign a
“1”, assign a “2” to the brand you prefer the 2nd most,
assign a “3” to the brand that you prefer 3rd most, and
assign a “4” to the brand that you prefer the least.
Brand Ranking

Maruti 1

Hyundai 3

Honda 2

Ford 4
Rank Order Scaling
Which one you prefer?

No One!!!!!, But still have to make choice

 Constant Sum Scaling
 Respondents are asked to allocate a constant
sum of units among a set of stimulus objects
with respect to some criterion
 Units allocated represent the importance
attached to the objects.
 Data obtained are interval in nature
 Allows for fine discrimination among
alternatives
 Constant Sum Scaling
Below are eight attributes of bottled beers. Please allocate 100
points among the attributes so that your allocation reflects the
relative importance you attach to each attribute.

Attribute Seg I Seg II Seg III

Bitterness 30 35 25

Fragrance 30 25 25

Price 25 25 25

Alcohol Level 15 15 25

Sum Total 100 100 100

 Q-sort scaling

 Discriminate among a relatively large

number of objects quickly.
 Uses a rank order procedure in which
objects are sorted into piles based on
similarity with respect to some criterion.
https://q-
assessor.com/studies/580/responses/new
 Noncomparative Scaling
Techniques
 Respondents evaluate only one object at a
time, and for this reason non-
comparative scales are often referred to
as monadic scales.

 Non-comparative techniques consist of

continuous and itemized rating scales.
 Continuous Rating Scale
Example
Respondents rate the objects by placing a mark at the
appropriate position on a line that runs from one extreme
of the criterion variable to the other.
The form of the continuous scale may vary considerably.
 Itemized Rating Scales
 The respondents are provided with a scale that
has a number or brief description associated with
each category.
 The categories are ordered in terms of scale
position, and the respondents are required to
select the specified category that best describes
the object being rated.
 The commonly used itemized rating scales are the
Likert, semantic differential, and Stapel scales.
 Method of Summated
Ratings:
The Likert Scale
 Extremely popular means for measuring attitudes.
 Respondents indicate their own attitudes by
checking how strongly they agree/disagree with
statements.
 Response alternatives:
“strongly agree”, “agree”, “uncertain”, “disagree”,
and “strongly disagree”.
 Generally use either a 5- or 7-point scale
 Likert Scale
The Likert scale requires the respondents to indicate a
degree of agreement or disagreement with each of a
series of statements about the stimulus objects.
 
 Semantic Differential Scale
The semantic differential is a seven-point rating scale with
end points associated with bipolar labels that have
semantic meaning.
Maruti is:
Powerful --:--:--:--:-X-:--:--: Weak
Unreliable --:--:--:--:--:-X-:--: Reliable
Modern --:--:--:--:--:--:-X-: Old-fashioned
 The negative adjective or phrase sometimes appears at the
left side of the scale and sometimes at the right.
 This controls the tendency of some respondents,
particularly those with very positive or very negative
attitudes, to mark the right- or left-hand sides without
reading the labels.
 Individual items on a semantic differential scale may be
scored on either a -3 to +3 or a 1 to 7 scale.
Semantic Differential Scales
 Stapel Scale
 The Stapel scale is a unipolar rating scale
with ten categories numbered from -5 to +5,
without a neutral point (zero).
 This scale is usually presented vertically.
Balanced and Unbalanced
Scales
Balanced Scale Unbalanced Scale
Surfing the Internet is Surfing the Internet is
____ Extremely Good ____ Extremely Good
____ Very Good ____ Very Good
____ Good ____ Good
____ Bad ____ Somewhat Good
____ Very Bad ____ Bad
____ Extremely Bad ____ Very Bad
 Summary of Itemized
Scale Decisions
 Number of categories: Suggested categories
should be between five and nine.
 Balanced vs. unbalanced: In general, the scale
should be balanced to obtain objective data
 Odd/even no. of categories: If a neutral or
indifferent scale response is possible for at least
some respondents, an odd number of categories.
 Forced vs. non-forced: Accuracy of the data may
be improved by a non-forced scale.
 Verbal description: Category descriptions should
be located close to the response categories
 Physical form: A number of options should be
tried and the best selected
 Reliability
 Extent to which a scale produces
consistent results
 Test-retest Reliability
 Respondents are administered scales at 2
different times under nearly equivalent
conditions
 Alternative-form Reliability
 Two equivalent forms of a scale are
constructed, then tested with the same
respondents at different times
 Reliability
 Internal Consistency Reliability
 The consistency with which each item
represents the construct of interest
 Used to assess the reliability of a summated
scale
 Split-half Reliability
• Items constituting the scale divided into 2 halves,
and resulting half scores are correlated
 Coefficient alpha (most common test of
reliability)
• Average of all possible split-half coefficients
resulting from different splitting of the scale items
 Validity
 Extent to which true differences among the
objects are reflected on the characteristic being
measured
 Content Validity
 Face validity
 Subjective, but systematic evaluation of the
representativeness of the content of a scale for the
measuring task at hand
 Criterion Validity
 Examines whether measurement scale performs as
expected in relation to other variables selected as
meaningful criteria
 I.e., predicted and actual behavior should be similar
 Construct Validity
 Addresses the question of what construct or
characteristic the scale is actually measuring
 Convergent Validity
 Extent to which scale correlates positively with
other measures of the same construct
 Discriminant Validity
 Extent to which a measure does not correlate with
other constructs from which it is supposed to differ
 Nomological Validity
 Extent to which scale correlates in theoretically
predicted ways with measures of different but
related constructs
 Relationship Between
Reliability and Validity
 A scale can be reliable, but not valid
 In order for a scale to valid, it must also be
reliable.
 In other words,
 Reliability is a necessary but insufficient
condition for Validity.