Measurement in Marketing Research

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research
Chapter 10
MEASUREMENT IN MARKETING RESEARCH
GENERAL CONCEPT MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1.
In the text, Maritz Research offers criteria for customer-satisfaction scales. Which of the following
is NOT one of the criteria?
a. be reliable
b. be valid
c. apply to a specific product or service
d. be easy for respondents to relate to
e. be symmetrically unbalanced
Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 268

2.
What are the basic question-response formats?

a. unprobed, probed, and neutral
b. open-ended, closed-ended, and skip patterned
c. open-ended, closed-ended, and scaled-response
d. closed-ended, continuous, open-ended
e. open-ended, probed, general
Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 270

3.
The question "What was your reaction to the Sony CD player advertisement you saw on television?"
is an example of which response format?
a. unprobed, open-ended
b. unprobed, closed-ended
c. scaled-response
d. ad reaction measurement
e. probed response
Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

4.
If a researcher wanted the respondent to simply answer an open-ended question with no additional
information, he/she would likely use a(n):
a. open-ended, unprobed format
b. open-ended, probed format
c. closed-ended, probed format
d. continuous response format
e. general format
138
5.
Which of the following encourages the respondent to provide information beyond the initial and
possibly superficial first comments?
a. open-ended, unprobed format
b. closed-ended, exploratory format
c. deductive probed
d. optional format
e. open-ended, probed format
Answer: (e) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

6.
Which of the following formats provides response options to questions on the questionnaire?
a. response options format
b. closed-ended format
c. open-ended format
d. probed format
e. optional format
Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

7.
Which of the following formats has only two response options?

a. the twins format
b. dichotomous closed-ended format
c. the dual format
d. the di-format
e. the bi-format

8.
A scale on which all of the scale positions, say 1 through 5, are identified with some descriptor is
called:
a. a descriptor scale format
b. a labeled scaled-response format
c. a numerical/descriptor format
d. a numeric identifier
e. no such scale exists
139
9.
Your textbook suggested several considerations in deciding on the proper response format for a
study. Which one of the following was discussed by your authors?
a. what will be the most cost-effective format
b. the ability of the researcher
c. keeping data analysis requirements limited to descriptive statistics
d.
keeping the length of the questionnaire to one page or less
e.
what response format was used in a previous study with which we wish to compare results
Answer: (e) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 272
10.
For subjective properties such as "liking for chocolate," which response format would likely be
best?
a. closed-ended
b. dual-response
c. scaled-response
d. the "liking index" response format
e. objective response

11.
Which of the following is defined as determining if and how much of a property is possessed by an
object?
a. scale level
b. attributes of properties
c. subjective and objective properties
d. measurement
e. intensity determination
Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 273

12.
Researchers measure ________ of ________.

a. properties/objects
b. numbers/customers
c. objects/measurements
d. objects/properties
e. types/products
Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 273
140
13. Age, income, gender, and interest in buying product X would all be considered ________ of the
consumer, or object.
a.
description
b.
properties
c.
subjective descriptors
d.
objectives descriptors
e.
commonalities
Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 273
14.
If we were measuring age, income, height, number of bottles purchased, and so on, we would be
measuring:
a. objective properties
b. subjective properties
c. objective objects
d. subjective objects
e. none of the above

15.
Which of the following refers to a unique descriptor, or label, to stand for each designation on the
scale?
a. description
b. order
c. distance
d. origin
e. label designation
Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 275

16.
Which of the following refers to the relative sizes of the descriptors?

a. description
b. order
c. distance
d. origin
e. relativity
Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 275

17.
When we have less-than, greater-than, and/or equal to, we have:

a. description
b. order
c. distance
d. origin
e. timelines

141
18.
Which of the following refers to a scale having a true zero beginning point?
a. description
b. order
c. distance
d. origin
e. start point

19.
Which single characteristic is unique to nominal level of measurement?

a. description
b. order
c. distance
d. origin
e. numbers

20.
If the distance between the 2 and the 3 and the 6 and the 7 on a scale are equal, the scale would
likely be at least:
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
e. equality
Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 276

21.
Which characteristic is associated only with ratio scales?

a. description
b. order
c. distance
d. origin
e. ratiocination

22.
A question that asks how much you would be willing to pay in annual premium for a $100,000 life
insurance policy would be scaled as:
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
e. None of the above
142
23.
A question that asks the age of a respondent in years would be scaled as:
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
e. age-related

24.
Understanding the measurement level of a scale is important because it:

a. is said to be important by statisticians
b. tells us what we can/cannot say about the object's properties being measured
c. tells us what we can/cannot say about the object's properties being measured as well as dictating
the type of statistical analysis that may be performed
d. dictates the type of statistical analysis that may be performed as well as being important in
terms of communicating the results to the client in a manner that facilitates a clear presentation
e. lets us know how expensive a project will be

25.
Because they measure psychological constructs of consumers, such as attitudes, opinions, and so on,
and because these constructs exist on a continuum, scaled-response question formats are most useful
for measuring:
a. physical constructs
b. brand name awareness
c. sales
d. unobservable constructs
Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 279

26.
A scale ranging on a continuum from one extreme (i.e. very satisfied, strongly agree) to the other
extreme (i.e. very dissatisfied, strongly disagree) and having a neutral position is known as a(n):
a. intensity metered scale
b. extremism scale
c. bipolar scale
d. balanced scale
e. neutral-centrist scale
143
27. Which scaled-response form asks respondents to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement
with a statement?
a. agreement inventory
b. semantic differential
c. constant sum scale
d. modified Likert scale
e. degree scale
28.
Which type of scaled-response format measures activities, interests, and opinions?

a. constant sum scale
b. lifestyle inventory
c. semantic differential scale
d. percentage scale
e. graphic intensity scale

29.
Which type of scaled-response format contains bipolar words such as "hotcold," "wetdry,"
"convenientinconvenient," and so on?
b. life-style inventory
d. graphic intensity
e. percentage scale

30.
The "halo effect" is best avoided by:

a. doing a couple of things wrong during the entire research project
b. flipping favorable and unfavorable endpoints on different scale items
c. flipping "bad" scales to the back of the survey to encourage a good response before the
respondents get to the bad questions
d. using only percentage scales
e. using only closed-ended questions
144
31.
Which of the following scaled-response formats is good for measuring store, company, or brand
images because profiles may be generated to easily depict the image?
b. lifestyle inventory
d. image analysis scales

32.
Some researchers believe that a mid-point, or neutral position, should NOT be included in a scale
question because:
a. it violates the statistical assumption of symmetry
b. it creates an odd number
c. it allows respondents to dodge or hide their feelings
d. it creates a problem in trying to code the scale items
e. it creates a problem in terms of how you value the mid-point in the calculation of statistics

33.
Using a line or pictures to indicate the intensity of response would be used in which type of scaledresponse question formats?
a. graphic rating scale
b. line/pictorial scale
c. staple scale
d. itemized rating scale
e. intensity scale
Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 286

34.
A question on a survey asks "How many of the following kitchen appliances are in your kitchen?"
and respondents are given a list of appliances and asked to check all those that apply. The researcher
who counts the number of checks and adds them up to measure the construct "kitchen appliance
ownership" would be using a(n):
a. demographic scale
b. anchored scale
c. Likert scale
d. summated scale
e. graphic intensity scale
Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 287
145
35. A scale consists of 5 points and there are labels only on each end of the 5-point continuum. This is
an example of a(n):
a. minimal labeled 5-point scale
b. 5-point unanchored scale
c. summated scale
d. graphic rating scale
e. anchored scale
Answer: (e) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 289
36.
Reader's Digest conducts an annual survey across 18 different European countries and asks
respondents to rate brands across 30 product categories. The questions ask the consumers to rate the
brands from 1 to 5 on each of the following: quality, value, strong image, and understanding
consumer needs. This is an example of:
a. an anchored scale
b. an unanchored scale
c. a summated scale
d. a staple scale
e. a graphic intensity scale

37.
Which of the following best illustrates the concept of reliability of measurement?

a. the tendency to respond in the same manner to different questions
b. the ability of the measurement to elicit an identical or very similar response from the same
person with successive administrations
c. the ability to repeat the same response time and again to different questions
d. a measure that is truthful
e. a measurement that is relative to what actually is

38.
If a question is designed to measure a construct, say "intentions to buy a new product," and the
question appears to ask this in a straightforward manner, the measurement would be said to have:
a. reliability
b. validity
c. face validity
d. appearance value
146
39.
Validity is best illustrated by which of the following statements?

a. accuracy or truthfulness of the measurement
b. the extent to which the reliability coefficient approaches .5
c. the ability to repeat measurements
d. tendency to respond in the same manner to different questions

40.
Which type of validity is concerned with the degree to which a measurement "looks like" its
measuring that which it is intended to measure?
a. face validity
b. predictive validity
c. convergent validity
d. discriminant validity
e. relative validity

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
41.
A measurement of the construct of customer satisfaction should be valid, meaning that it should
actually measure how satisfied customers are.
Answer: (True) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 268

42. A 5-point scale that is "anchored" means that each scale point is given a verbal description.
Answer: (True) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 269
43.
An open-ended question presents no response options to the respondent.

44.
A multiple category, closed-ended question has more than two response options.

45.
All scaled-response questions must be labeled.
Answer: (False) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 271
147
46.
Sometimes the nature of the property being measured determines the question response format, that
is, gender is either male or female; a dichotomous, closed ended format is appropriate.

47.
All response formats are easy and straightforward. All consumers should be able to answer any of
them and, therefore, ability of the respondent is not really a consideration in determining the
response format.
Answer: (False) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 272

48.
We attempt to measure the propertiessometimes called attributes or qualitiesof objects.

49.
Subjective properties are observable and tangible.
Answer: (False) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 274

50.
A scale that is simply "yes" or "no" is said to have origin.
Answer: (False) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 275

51.
The terms greater than or less than refer to the scale characteristic known as order.

52.
When the distances between scale descriptors are absolute and known, the scale is said to possess
the characteristic of description.

53.
Categorical scales represent scales that are either nominal or ordinal.
Answer: (True) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 276

54.
Metric scales represent scales that are either nominal or ordinal.
148
55.
When a scale has a "true zero," it is a nominal scale.

56.
Because the highest level scale, ratio, possesses all of the scale characteristics, we should use ratio
scales for only research purposes.

57.
Scaled-response questions are best suited for unobservable constructs.

58.
Because every research project is different, it is wise to develop a new and novel scale format to suit
the particular needs of the existing situation.

59.
A scale that asks consumers the extent to which they agree or disagree with the statement that Levi's
501 are good looking is a modified Likert scale.

60.
The lifestyle inventory is a special application of the modified Likert scale in that it measures
activities, interests, and opinions using the Likert question form.

61.
The constant sum scale is regarded as the best scale for identifying differences in images between
companies, stores, or brands.

62.
A consumer likes the restaurant Red Lobster and so answers "Very Satisfied" to a survey about
many dimensions of the restaurant without really paying attention to each specific dimension, such
as price, product quality, atmosphere, and so on. This is an example of what is known as the "halo
effect."
149
63.
One of the appealing aspects of the semantic differential scale is that the researcher may compute
averages and then plot them on the scale creating a "profile" of the object being measured, that is,
store, brand, and so on.

64.
Different cultures tend to respond differently to scales, and a scale developed in Western culture
may not be automatically transferred to other cultures.

65.
All scaled-response formats must have a middle, neutral response option.

66.
A completely symmetric scale is one that has the same number of "positive" scale positions as
"negative" scale positions.

67.
Marketing researchers have commonly used methods of measuring certain constructs such as
importance, store image, and intention to purchase.

68. An unreliable measure will obtain different responses from respondents who have identical feelings
or opinions. Therefore, the marketing researcher cannot place any faith in unreliable measures; they
are meaningless numbers.
69. A scale that measures a construct, say satisfaction, by stating "Please rate your satisfaction with
brand x on a scale from 1 to 10" is an example of an anchored scale.
70.
Researchers agree that a 5-point scale is the optimum number of scale positions to use to measure
constructs.
150
71. A respondent has an income of less than $10,000 but states he earns more than $100,000 during an
interview. This is an example of low-reliability.
72.
Face validity simply means that the measurement "looks like" it's measuring what it is intended to
measure.

73.
It is possible to have a reliable measure that is invalid.

74.
Reliable and valid scales are useful in marketing research but they do not represent any kind of
ethical issue for marketing researchers.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
75.
In a survey for ACME Electric Co., Ralph Thomas asks the following questions: "What is your
gender? Male Female" and "How much do you estimate your monthly electric bill to be? $___."
In the first question regarding gender, the answers are composed of a small number of distinct
values or categories. In the second question, the answers are composed of numbers that have an
"underlying measurement continuum." How would you classify these two questions in terms of the
type of scale each represents?
a. closed ended, scaled response
b. closed ended, semantic dollar scale
c. categorical, meteorological
d. categorical, metric
e. closed ended, metric
151
76.
Rick Irizarry of Irizarry Insurance Company is conducting a survey of potential customers. One of
his questions asks how much customers would be willing to pay in annual premium for a $100,000
life insurance policy in the following way:
Check appropriate category:
___ $1 to $10 month
___ $11 to $20 month
___ $21 to $30 month
___ $31 to $40 month
___ $41 to $50 month
Rick should consider the level of the measurement scale to be:
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio

77.
Rick Irizarry of Irizarry Insurance Company is conducting a survey of potential customers. Age is
an important issue in determining life insurance premiums. Rick considers asking for age in the
following way:
___ 16 to 19
___ 20 to 25
___ 26 to 35
___ 36 to 50
___ over 50
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
e. age-related

78.
Rick Irizarry of Irizarry Insurance Company is conducting a survey of potential customers. Age is
an important issue in determining life insurance premiums. Rick considers asking for age in the
following way: How old are you? ___ years?
a.
nominal
b.
ordinal
c.
interval
d.
ratio
e.
categorical

152
79.
Sandra Catrioni is a research analyst at Spellman Research Associates. She has just completed a
study of customers for Brennan's, a department store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has asked the
question, "How much do you believe you spend on an average trip to a department store?" She
realizes that the level of the measurement scale of the answer is ratio. However, for her client's
presentation, she wants to create categories of the answers and put them in a bar chart. The
categories will be of unequal amounts. That is, the first category will be "Less than $10" and the
second category will be "$10 to $25," and so on. What effect will this have on the measurement
level of the new variable she will create containing the categories?
a. nothing; once a ratio scale, always a ratio scale
b. the ratio scale will now become an ordinal scale
c. the ratio scale will not become an interval scale
d. the ratio scale will become a nominal scale
e. the ratio scale will become a bar chart scale

80. Agnes Montgomery is the director of marketing for Ideal Plastics, Inc. Ideal has distributors all over
the world. Last year, Agnes developed a system for measuring the distributors' satisfaction levels
with Ideal on 20 different dimensions. Each dimension of company service, such as "Return
Policy" and "Ease of Placing an Order," was evaluated by the distributors on a semantic differential
scale ranging from "Very Satisfied" to "Very Dissatisfied." Now, several months after
implementing the system, Agnes has data to analyze. She noticed that the Asian countries seemed
to have different means from the countries in the UK, United States, and western Europe. Agnes
looked carefully at the actual scores and saw that Asian distributors seemed to have much stronger
feelings, either positively or negatively. Agnes should:
a. immediately conduct some exploratory research within the Asian division to determine why
he mean scores are so different
b. take aggressive action in the Asian division by changing the companies procedures on all the
service dimensions having lower means than the other divisions
c. view the results between countries with major cultural differences cautiously because
different cultural influences affect how individuals respond to scales
d.
view the results among countries with similar cultures cautiously because differences in
means on service dimensions are likely due to reference group influences instead of real
differences in company performance
e. All of the above
153
81. Erik Cartman just took a new position with Colorado Research, Inc. Erik's first customer, the
president of a local bank, wanted a bank image study to be conducted that measured not only the
client's banks' image but that of his competitors as well. In designing the research project, Erik
talked to several of his friends one night about how they viewed their banks. Erik charged the
client for this and billed it as "Exploratory ResearchFocus Group." The next day Erik tried to
remember most of what his friends had told him. Some of the issues were "closeness to home" of
branch locations, "cool online banking," and "friendly tellers." Erik took these issues and made up
some of his own and put them into a semantic differential scale format. After the research study
Erik wrote a report and referred to the semantic differential scale he devised as a "Standard
Marketing Research Scale to Measure the Construct of Bank Image." What Erik did was:
a.
correct; he used exploratory research to generate most of the items for his measurement of
bank image
b.
correct; although he used some of his own opinions, they were based upon experience and he
did make use of a focus group
c.
incorrect; the measurement of bank image was incorrect as bank image should be measured
only by using Likert scales
d.
incorrect; we do not know if the scale Mr. Cartman devised was valid or reliable but he was
unethical in presenting the measurement as "standard marketing research"
e.
correct; Erik saved considerable time and money by creating his own measurement of the
construct
154

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Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 268

What are the basic question-response formats?

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 270

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (e) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

Which of the following formats has only two response options?

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 271

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 272

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (e) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 272

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 272

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 273

Researchers measure ________ of ________.

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 273

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 274

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 275

Which of the following refers to the relative sizes of the descriptors?

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 275

When we have less-than, greater-than, and/or equal to, we have:

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 275

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 275

Which single characteristic is unique to nominal level of measurement?

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 276

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 276

Which characteristic is associated only with ratio scales?

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 278

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 278

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 278

Understanding the measurement level of a scale is important because it:

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 279

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 279

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 280

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Which type of scaled-response format measures activities, interests, and opinions?

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 281

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 283

The "halo effect" is best avoided by:

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 283

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 283

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 286

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 286

Answer: (d) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 287

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Difficult) Page: 289

Which of the following best illustrates the concept of reliability of measurement?

Answer: (b) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 290

Answer: (c) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 290

Chapter 10: Measurement in Marketing Research

Validity is best illustrated by which of the following statements?

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Moderate) Page: 290

Answer: (a) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 290

Answer: (True) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 268

An open-ended question presents no response options to the respondent.

Answer: (True) Difficulty: (Easy) Page: 270

Researchers measure of .