CH07

Chapter 7
Measurement of Variables: Scaling, Reliability,

Validity
© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1

www.wileyeurope.com/college/sekaran
Scale
▪ Scale: is an instrument, tool or device to measure
variables.

THERE ARE FOUR BASIC TYPES OF SCALES:
▪ Nominal scale (nominal data)
▪ Ordinal scale (ordinal data)
▪ Interval scale (interval data)
▪ Ratio scale (ratio data)
3
Nominal Scale
▪ A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain
categories or groups.
▪ What is your department?

O Marketing O Maintenance O Finance
O Production O Servicing O Personnel
O Sales O Public Relations O Accounting
▪ What is your gender?

O Male
O Female

There are two types :
a) Dichotomous scale :
Used to … elicit a yes or no answer
ex. Do you own a car? Yes no
b) Category scale :
Used to … elicit a single response
ex. Where in London do you reside?
- east London - south London
- west London - north London
-outskirts
5
Ordinal Scale
▪ Ordinal scale: not only categorizes variables in such a way as to
denote differences among various categories, it also rank-orders
categories in some meaningful way.
▪ What is the highest level of education you have completed?

O Less than High School
O High School/GED Equivalent
O College Degree
O Masters Degree
O Doctoral Degree

Ordinal Scale

INTERVAL SCALE:
� Interval scales are numeric scales in which we

know not only the order, but also the exact
differences between the values (e.g. temp.)
� they don’t have a “true zero.” For example, there
is no such thing as “no temperature.”
8
Interval Scale
▪ Interval scale: whereas the nominal scale allows us only
to qualitatively distinguish groups by categorizing them
into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive sets,
and the ordinal scale to rank-order the preferences, the
interval scale lets us measure the distance between any
two points on the scale.

Interval scale

Interval scale
▪ Circle the number that represents your feelings at this particular moment best. There
are no right or wrong answers. Please answer every question.
1. I am satisfied with my job
I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely

Interval scale
▪ Circle the number that represents your feelings at this particular moment best. There
are no right or wrong answers. Please answer every question.
1. I am satisfied with my job
I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely
Several types of such scales used by researchers to measure (capture) attitudes,

feelings, personality dimensions.

1) Semantic differential scale:
It is used to assess respondent’s attitudes toward a
particular brand, advertisement, object, or individual.
Several bipolar adjectives: might employ such terms
as good-bad, strong-weak, hot-cold
Responsive -----unresponsive
Beautiful --------ugly
Courageous ------- timid
13
1) Semantic differential scale:
How well we understand and express our feelings. The
basis is the use of adjective pairs, applied to our
experiences or feelings. (with a neutral point)
14
2) Numerical scale :
Similar to the semantic scale but with numbers on
five-point or seven-point scale are provided
Extremely pleased 7654321 extremely displeased
15
3) Likert scale:
My work is very interesting 1 2 3 4 5
I am not engrossed in my work all day 1 2 3 4 5
Life without my work would be dull 1 2 3 4 5
• Attempts to put a quantitative value to an emotional feeling.

• The scale, typically in 5 or 7 intervals, allows the respondent to
specify a neutrality and extremes of agreement to particular
statement (strongly disagree----strongly agree).
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4) Staple scale:
This scale measures both the direction and intensity of the
attitude toward the items under study
Rate your supervisor abilities:
+3 +3 +3
+2 +2 +2
+1 +1 +1
Adopting modern technology Product innovation Interpersonal skills
-1 -1 -1
-2 -2 -2
-3 -3 -3
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Semantic vs Likert:
�The down side of the Likert is the inability to quantify
anything rather than agreement to a question. We are
asking the respondent to respond to our question, rather
than express their feeling or emotion.
�Sometimes it is hard to find pairs to articulate exactly
what you wish to ask.
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Semantic vs Likert:
Both scales essentially ask for intensity of
judgement, but SDS is split in the middle where
likert isn't. A person filling SDS scale will typically
follow 2 steps:
�Is it good or bad? (one side or the other). If you
do provide a neutral option, this is also an option.
�How good or bad is it?
19
Ratio Scale
It has an absolute (in contrast to an arbitrary) zero point,
which is a meaningful measurement point.
▪What is your age?

Ratio Scale

4- RATIO SCALE:
Usually used in organizational research when exact numbers on
objective (as opposed to subjective) factors are called:
1. How many other organizations did you work for before joining
this system?
2. How many retail outlets do you operate?
The responses to the questions could range from 0 to any reasonable
figure.
22
Levels of Measurement
and Measurement Scales
EXAMPLES:
Equal Differences Height, Age, Weekly Food
Ratio Data between
Spending
measurements, true
zero exists
Equal Differences Temperature in

Interval Data between measurements Fahrenheit, Standardized
but no true zero exam score
Service quality rating,

Ordered Categories
Ordinal Data (rankings, order) Standard & Poor’s bond
rating, Student letter
grades
Categories (no ordering Marital status, Type of car

Nominal Data or direction) owned
Basic Business Statistics, 10e © 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc..

Properties of the Four Scales

Goodness of Measures
We make sure that the instruments we use in our
research:
▪they indeed measure the variables they are supposed to
▪they measure them accurately

We make sure that the instruments we use in our
research:
▪they indeed measure the variables they are supposed to
(validity)
▪they measure them accurately (reliability)

▪ The results of any research can only be as good as the
measures that tap the concepts in the theoretical
framework
▪ We need to use well-validated and reliable measures to
ensure that our research is scientific
▪ Measures of many important concepts are available
▪ Published measures for various concepts usually report
the kinds of validity that have been established for the
instrument
▪ Objective data
ROA, ROI, Firm size 2017, 2018
GDP 2017, 2018
▪ Subjective data
Job stress, Turnover intention, Job satisfaction


Validity
▪ Content validity Is the content of measure
representative of concept (variable)
▪ Content validity is a function of how well the dimensions
and elements of a concept have been measured
▪ Panel of judges can attest content validity of instrument
▪ Face validity Does the instrument measure the variable
what its name suggest? (Job satisfaction etc.)

Validity
▪ Construct validity Does the instrument tap the concept
(variable) as theorized?
▪ Convergent validity is established when the scores
obtained with two different instruments measuring the
same concept are highly correlated
▪ Discriminant validity is established when, based on
theory, two variables are predicted to be uncorrelated,
and the scores obtained by measuring them are so

Validity
The above forms of validity can be established through:
▪Correlational analysis (as in the case of establishing

convergent and discriminant validity) (Factor analysis)

Validity

Reliability
▪ Reliability of measure indicates extent to which it is
without bias and hence ensures consistent
measurement across time (stability) and across the
various items in the instrument (internal consistency).

Stability
▪ Stability: ability of a measure to remain the same over
time, despite uncontrollable testing conditions or the
state of the respondents themselves.
– Test–Retest Reliability: The reliability coefﬁcient obtained with
a repetition of the same measure on a second occasion.
– Parallel-Form Reliability: Responses on two comparable sets
of measures tapping the same construct are highly
correlated.

Internal Consistency
▪ Internal Consistency of Measures is indicative of the
homogeneity of the items in the measure that tap the
construct.
– Interitem Consistency Reliability: This is a test of the
consistency of respondents’ answers to all the items in a
measure. The most popular test of interitem consistency
reliability is the Cronbach’s coefﬁcient alpha.
– Split-Half Reliability: Split-half reliability reflects the
correlations between two halves of an instrument.


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Chapter 7

Measurement of Variables: Scaling, Reliability,

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2

▪ Nominal scale (nominal data)

▪ Ordinal scale (ordinal data)

▪ Interval scale (interval data)

▪ Ratio scale (ratio data)

▪ What is your department?

▪ What is your gender?

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 4

▪ What is the highest level of education you have completed?

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 6

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 7

� Interval scales are numeric scales in which we

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 9

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 10

1. I am satisfied with my job

I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 11

1. I am satisfied with my job

I disagree completely 1 2 3 4 5 I agree completely

Several types of such scales used by researchers to measure (capture) attitudes,

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 12

Extremely pleased 7654321 extremely displeased

My work is very interesting 1 2 3 4 5

I am not engrossed in my work all day 1 2 3 4 5

Life without my work would be dull 1 2 3 4 5

• Attempts to put a quantitative value to an emotional feeling.

▪What is your age?

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 20

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 21

Equal Differences Temperature in

Service quality rating,

Categories (no ordering Marital status, Type of car

Basic Business Statistics, 10e © 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc..

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 24

▪they measure them accurately

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 25

▪they measure them accurately (reliability)

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 26

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 28

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 29

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 30

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 31

▪Correlational analysis (as in the case of establishing

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 32

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 33

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 34

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 35

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 36

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