Measurement & Scaling

Techniques
Research Methodology
 Questions
1. Short note on
– Scaling Techniques
– Tests of sound measurement
– Validity of measurements
– Measurement techniques
2. Bring out the importance & utility of Rating & Scaling
techniques in quantifying data with examples
3. What is measurement in research? Explain tests of
sound measurements.

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 What is Measurement in Research?
• Measuring is a process of assigning
numbers to objects or observation.

• Form of quantification expressed in

numbers
e.g. size, height, weight etc easy to
measure
Happiness, satisfaction etc are difficult to
measure.
Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques
 Measurement Scale
• Nominal (name and count)
• Ordinal (rank/order)
• Interval (Score/mark)
• Ratio

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Primary Scales of Measurement
Scale Figure 8.1
Nominal Numbers Finish
Assigned
7 8 3
to Runners

Ordinal Rank Order Finish

of Winners
Third Second First
place place place

Interval Performance
Rating on a 8.2 9.1 9.6

0 to 10 Scale
15.2 14.1 13.4
Ratio Time to
Finish, in
 Measurement Scale
Nominal (name and count)
• Numbers are used to label only, no
numerical sanctity
Male -> 1 & female -> 2 or female ->1 &
male -> 2 (does not make any difference)
• Count is only statistics, Chi-square test can
be used
• Mean, Std deviation can not be used

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Measurement Scale
Ordinal (rank/order)
• Places events in order e.g. in market
research, respondent might rank various
brands as per his/her likings
• Rank 1 means higher than rank 2
• Median, percentile & deciles are the
measure to use
• Mean can not be used

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Measurement Scale
Interval or Rating scale(score/mark)
• Most of the behavioral measurement scales
used to measure attitudes of respondent on
a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 3 or 1 to 10.
• Here we can calculate mean & std dev.
• Pearson corr. of coefficient, t and f test can
be applied
• Difference between 1 & 2 is same as 2 & 3

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Measurement Scale
Ratio Scale
• All statistical techniques are available
• Geom. Mean, Harm. Mean can be used
• Not much use in market research

Note : Researcher has to be careful while choosing the

variable.
Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques
 Sources of Error in Measurement
• Respondent (reluctance, little knowledge
etc)
• Situation (lack of rapport)
• Measurer (change in order, behaviour etc)
• Instrument (difficult words, complicated
questions etc)

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement

Measurement should be
Valid
Reliable
Practicable

…hence we need tests for a good measurement

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement

Tests of Validity
• The extent to which an instrument
measures what it supposed to measure
• The extent to which differences found with
a measuring instrument reflect true
difference among those being measured

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement

Types of Tests of Validity

• Content validity
• Criterion related validity
• Construct validity

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement

Types of Tests of Validity

• Content validity
– Adequacy of the topic
– No numeric expression is possible
– Primarily intuitive & based on judgement
• Criterion related validity
– Ability to predict outcome, the criterion should
be free of bias, reliable

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement

Types of Tests of Validity contd

• Content validity
– Adequacy of the topic
– No numeric expression is possible
– Primarily intuitive & based on judgment
• Criterion related validity
– Ability to predict outcome, the criterion should
be free of bias, reliable

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement
Types of Tests of Validity contd.
• Criterion related validity refers to
– Predictive validity
– Concurrent validity.
Predictive validity refers to usefulness of test in predicting
some future performance
Concurrent validity refers to usefulness of a test closely
relating to other measures of known validity. This is
expressed by coeff of corr between test scores and
scores of another measures of known validity

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement
Types of Tests of Validity contd.
• Construct validity
if measurement on our derived scale
correlate in an predefined way with those
other proposition, we can conclude that
there is some construct validity

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement
Tests of Reliability
• Instrument should provide consistent
result
• Contributes to validity
• Takes care of situational factors

Note : reliability can be improved by standardizing the

condition of measurement and by using trained and
motivated researcher

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Tests of Sound Measurement

Tests of Practicability
• Economy
• Convenience
• interpretability

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Techniques of developing Measurement
Tools
• Concept development
• Specification of concept dimension
• Selection of indicator
• Formation of an Index

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Techniques of developing Measurement
Tools
• Concept development
– Major concept pertaining to the study
• Specification of the dimensions of the
concept
– Done by using deduction or intuition e.g.
– Product reputation, customer satisfaction are
the dimensions for the study of Company
Image

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Techniques of developing Measurement
Tools
• Indicator
– Once dimensions have been specified,
indicator for measuring each concept element
has to be developed.
• Index
– Finally combining all the indicators,
researcher create a single index.

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques

 Scaling Techniques

What is Scaling?
• Scaling describes the procedure of
assigning numbers to various degrees of
opinion, attitude and other concepts
• Scaling provides a mechanism for
measuring abstract concepts

Sep 2009 Measurement & Scaling Techniques