Measurement And

Scales
Qazi Subhan

Identify the four levels of measurement

under which numbers generated through a
survey can be classified.
Distinguish among attributes, behavioral
variables, beliefs, and attitudes.
List and describe five methods for inferring
people's attitudes.

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Discuss the various dimensions on which

rating scales can vary.
Apply the formats of Likert, semanticdifferential, and Stapel scales and discuss
how data generated by these scales are
analyzed and interpreted.
Define validity, reliability, and sensitivity of
a scale.

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Measurement is the assignment of

numbers to observations [or responses]
according to some set of rules

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Emotional Appeal
Financial
Performance

Products and
Services
Reputation
Workplace
Environment

Social
Responsibility

Vision and
Leadership

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Emotional Appeal
Like
Respect
Trust

Workplace Environment
Well managed
Appealing workplace
Employee Talent

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Products and Services

Innovative
Strong brand
Quality
Value

Social Responsibility

Citizenship
Environmental stewardship
Ethics

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Vision and Leadership

Clear values
Strong leadership
Inspiring vision

Financial Performance

Growth prospects
Past results
Recognizes opportunities
Low risk

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 Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio
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Numbers forming a nominal scale are no

more than labels used solely to identify
different categories of responses
Example: What is the gender?

Male
Female

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Which one of the following media influences

your purchasing decisions the most?

Television
Radio
Newspapers
Magazines
Internet

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The mode is the most frequent category only statistics applicable to nominal variable

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An ordinal scale is more powerful than a

nominal scale in that the numbers possess
the property of rank order
How long do you spend reading newspapers
on a typical weekday?

Less than 5 minutes

5 minutes to less than 15 minutes
15 minutes to less than 30 minutes
30 minutes or more

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The mode and the median are the most

meaningful measures of central tendency
for ordinal-scaled responses
Median the category in which the middle
value is called median when all responses
are arranged from lowest to highest (or vice
versa)

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In this case, the mode is category 1, and

the median is category 2.

Response Category

Percentage of Respondents
Checking Category

40

25

25

10

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An interval scale has all the properties of an

ordinal scale and the differences between
the scale values can be meaningfully
interpreted

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How likely are you to buy a new automobile

within the next six months?
(Please check the most appropriate category.)
Will definitely not buy
Extremely unlikely
Unlikely
Likely
Extremely likely
Will definitely buy

_____
(1)
_____
(2)
_____
(3)
_____
(4)
_____
(5)
_____
(6)
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Ratio scales possess all the properties of an

interval scale and the ratios of numbers on
these scales have meaningful
interpretations
What is your annual income before taxes?
$______
How far is your workplace from your home?
_____ miles

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Attributes
Behavior
Beliefs
Attitudes

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Attitudes are similar to beliefs, except that

they also involve respondents evaluative
judgments
For instance, do respondents feel print
advertisements for cigarettes should be
banned?

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A conceptual definition of attitude may be

a predisposition to respond favorably or
unfavorably to a stimulus object
An operational definition of attitude refers
to a persons attitude towards a particular
retail store that may be measured as the
total of the persons expressed degree of
agreement, on a 5-point, strongly agree
to strongly disagree scale, with each of a
set of 20 evaluative statements about
various aspects of the retail store

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Attitudes
Widely believed to be a key determinant of
behavior
Can only be inferred and cannot be directly
ascertained

Measures in which inferences are drawn

from

Observed evident behavior

Individual's reaction
Performance on objective tasks
Physiological reactions
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Observation of overt (Explicit) behavior is

useful when other attitude measurement
methods are inconvenient or infeasible
An observation study can be used to
ascertain the attitudes of very young
children toward a variety of toys

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Projective Techniques
The approach of analyzing reactions to partially
structured stimuli involves asking respondents to
react to or describe in some fashion,
an incomplete, vague stimulus

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To evaluate performance on objective tasks,

respondents are asked to complete an
supposedly objective, well-defined task
The nature of their performance is then
analyzed to infer their attitudes

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Monitoring physiological responses is based

on the premise that a person's emotional
reactions to a stimulus will be accompanied
by corresponding involuntary physiological
changes

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This method involves asking respondents

relatively direct questions concerning
attitudes toward whatever is of interest to
the researcher.
The questions are typically in the form of
rating scales on which respondents check
off appropriate positions that best reflect
their feelings

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A graphic rating scale presents a

continuum, in the form of a straight line,
along which a theoretically infinite number
of ratings are possible
Example: Indicate your overall opinion
about eBay by placing a mark at an
appropriate position on the line below.

Very
Bad

Very
Good
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Measurement scales that allow a

respondent to register the degree (or
amount) of a characteristic or attribute
possessed by an object directly on the
scale.
Six main types of rating scales:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Category scale
Semantic differential scale
Stapel scale
Likert scale (Summated ratings scale)
Constant sum scale
Graphic scale

A rating scale which the response options

provided for a closed-ended question are labeled
with specific verbal descriptions.
Example:
Please rate car model A on each of the following
dimensions:

Poor
Fair
Good
a) Durability
[
]
b) Fuel consumption
]

V. good Excellent
[ ]
[
] [
[
]
[ ]
[

][
] [

]
][

Characteristics:

Response options are still verbal descriptions.

Response categories are usually ordered according to a particular

descriptive or evaluative dimension.

Therefore scale has ordinal properties.

However, researchers often assume that it possesses interval

properties => but this is only an assumption.
** One special version is the Simple category scale.

A category scale with only two response

categories (or scale points) both of which are
labeled.
Example:
Please rate brand A on each of the following
dimensions:
poor
excellent
a) Durability
[
]
[
]
b) Fuel consumption [
]
[
]

A rating scale in which bipolar adjectives are

placed at both ends (or poles) of the scale, and
response options are expressed as semantic
space.
Example:
Please rate car model A on each of the following
dimensions:

Durable
---:-X-:---:---:---:---:--- Not durable
Low fuel consumption
---:---:---:---:---:-X-:--- High fuel consumption

Characteristics
1.
The scale has properties of an interval scale.
2.
Sometimes descriptive phrases are used instead
of bipolar adjectives, especially when it is difficult
to get adjectives that are exact opposites
3.
It is often used to construct an image profile.

A simplified version of the semantic differential

scale in which a single adjective or descriptive
phrase is used instead of bipolar adjectives.
Characteristics
1.
The scale measures both the direction and
intensity of the attribute simultaneously.
2.
It has properties similar to the semantic
differential.

Model A
-3 -2 -1
Durable Car
1 2 3
-3 -2 -1 Good Fuel Conaumption 1 2 3

A rating scale in which respondents divide a

constant sum among different attributes of an object
(usually to indicate the relative importance of each
attribute).
Assumed to have ratio level properties.

Example: Divide 100 points among the following

dimensions to indicate their level of importance to
you when you purchase a car:
Durability
Fuel Consumption
Total

100

Any rating scale in which numbers rather

than semantic space or verbal descriptions
are used as response options.

Examples:
Poor
Durability
7
Durable
N. Durable

Excellent
5
6

Rating scales in which respondents rate an

object on a graphic continuum, usually a

straight line.
Modified versions are the ladder scale
and happy face scale.

Characteristics
1. The straight line scale has ratio level
properties.
2. The ladder and happy face scales have
properties depending on the labeling
option chosen whether all response
categories
are
labeled
(ordinal
properties) or only the scale end-points
are labeled (interval properties).

A multiple item rating scale in which the degree of

an attribute possessed by an object is determined
by asking respondents to agree or disagree with a
series of positive and/or negative statements
describing the object.
Example:
Attitude toward buying from the Internet

a) Shopping takes much longer on the Internet

b) It is a good thing that Saudi consumers have
the opportunity to buy products through the
c) Buying products over the Internet is not a
sensible thing to do

Totally
disagree Disagree Neutral
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]

Agree
[ ]

Totally
agree
[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]


1.
2.

3.
4.

The following procedure is used to analyze data from

Likert scales:
First, weights are assigned to the responses options, e.g.
Totally agree=1, Agree=2, etc
Then negatively-worded statements are reverse-coded
(or reverse scored). E.g. a score of 2 for a negativelyworded statement with a 5-point response options is
equivalent to a score of 4 on an equivalent positive
statement.
Next, scores are summed across statements to arrive at
a total (or summated) score.
Each respondents score can then be compared with the
mean score or the scores of other respondents to
determine his level of attitude, loyalty, or other construct
that is being measured
Note that the response for each individual statement is
expressed on a category scale.

Characteristics Different Types of Rating Scales

Subject must:

Advantages

Disadvantages

2.Category scale

Indicate a response
category

Flexible, easy to respond

Ambiguous items, few

categories, only gross
distinction.

3. Likert scale

Evaluate statements on a
5-point scale

Easiest scale to construct

Hard to judge what a

single score means

4. Semantic differential
and numerical scales

Choose points between

bipolar adjectives on
relative dimensions

Easy to construct, norms

exist for comparison, e.g.
profile analysis

Bipolar adjectives must be

found, data may be
ordinal, not interval

5. Constant sum scale

Divide a construct sum

among response
alternatives

Scale approximates an
interval measure

Difficult for respondents

with low education levels

6. Stapel scale

Choose point on scale

with 1 center adjective

Easier to construct than

semantic differential

Endpoints are numerical,

not verbal.

7. Graphic scale

Choose a point on a
continuum

Visual impact, unlimited

scale points

No standard answers

8. Graphic scale-picture
response

Choose a visual picture

Visual impact, easy for

poor readers

Hard to attach a verbal

explanation to response

Rating Scale
1. Simple attitude scaling

Whether to use single or index measure.

Whether to use a ranking, sorting, choice, or
rating scale.
Whether to use monadic or comparative scale.

1.
2.

3.

4.
5.

Monadic rating scale is one in which respondents

evaluate an object in isolation
Comparative scale is one in which the object is
evaluated in relation to other objects
Construction and labeling is different for monadic and
comparative scales

Whether to use category labels or not.

If the decision is to use category labels, what
labels to use.

6.

Number of response options (scale categories)

to use, i.e whether to use 2, 3, 4, 5, etc
response categories

7.

Whether to use balanced or unbalanced scale.

8.

In general, the larger the number of categories the

more sensitive the scale is; but also the more difficult it
is for respondents to answer

A balanced scale has an equal number of points to the

left and right of a mid-point. An unbalanced scale has
more response options on one side than the other

Whether the scale should force choice among

the response categories, i.e should the scale
contain a neutral or dont know category.

Validity
Content validity
Construct validity
Predictive validity

Reliability
Test-retest reliability
Split-half reliability

Sensitivity

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The validity of a scale is the extent to which

it is a true reflection of the underlying
variable it is attempting to measure

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Face validity or content validity is the extent

to which the content of a measurement
scale seems to tap all relevant facets of an
issue that can influence respondents
attitudes

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Construct Validity is the nature of the

underlying variable or construct measured
by the scale

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Predictive Validity refers to how well the

attitude measure provided by the scale
predicts some other variable or
characteristic

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Reliability measures how consistent or

stable the ratings generated by the scale
are likely to be

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Test-Retest Reliability measures the stability

of ratings over time and involves
administering the scale to the same group
of respondents at two different times

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Split-Half Reliability measures the degree of

consistency across items within a scale and
can only be assessed for multiple-item
scales.

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Sensitivity focuses specifically on its ability

to detect subtle differences in the attitudes
being measured

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