Chapter 11 & 12

Measurement of Variables:
Operational Definition

Measurement:
Scaling, Reliability, Validity

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 Measurement
• Measurement: the assignment of numbers or
other symbols to characteristics (or attributes)
of objects according to a pre-specified set of
rules.

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 (Characteristics of) Objects
• Objects include persons, strategic business units,
companies, countries, kitchen appliances,
restaurants, shampoo, yogurt and so on.
• Examples of characteristics of objects are arousal
seeking tendency, achievement motivation,
organizational effectiveness, shopping
enjoyment, length, weight, ethnic diversity,
service quality, conditioning effects and taste.

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 Types of Variables
• Two types of variables:
– One lends itself to objective and precise
measurement;
– The other is more nebulous and does not lend
itself to accurate measurement because of its
abstract and subjective nature.

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 Operationalizing Concepts
• Operationalizing concepts: reduction of
abstract concepts to render them measurable
in a tangible way.
• Operationalizing is done by looking at the
behavioral dimensions, facets, or properties
denoted by the concept.

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 Example

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 Measurement: Scaling, Reliability,
Validity
• A Scale is a tool or mechanism by which
individuals are distinguished as to how they differ
from one another on the variables of interest to
our study.
• The Likert scale is a scale designed to examine how
strongly respondents agree with a statement on a
five-point scale with the following anchors: 1=
strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neither agree
nor disagree, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree.
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 Types of Scales
• Nominal scale: is one that allows the
researcher to assign subjects to certain
categories or groups.
• Ordinal scale: this scale not only categorizes
the variables in such a way as to denote
differences among the various categories, it
also rank-orders the categories in some
meaningful way.

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 Types of Scales
• Interval scale: allows us to perform certain
arithmetical operations on the data collected
from the respondents.
• Ratio scale: not only measures the magnitude
of the differences between points on the scale
but also taps the proportions in the
differences.

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 Rating Scales
• Dichotomous scale
• Category scale
• Semantic differential scale
• Itemized rating scale
• Likert scale
• Fixed or constant sum scale
• Stapel scale
• Graphic scale
• Consensus scale
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 Ranking Scales
• Paired comparison
• Forced choice
• Comparative scale

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 Goodness of Measures
Item Analysis:
• Reliability: is a test of how consistently a
measuring instrument measures whatever
concept it is measuring.
• Validity: is a test of how well an instrument
that is developed measures the particular
concept it is intended to measure

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 Validity
• Content validity
• Criterion-related validity
• Construct validity

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 Reliability
• Stability of measures
• Test-retest reliability
• Parallel-form reliability
• Internal consistency of measures
• Interitem consistency reliability
• Split-half reliability

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 Rating Scales
• Numerical scale: is similar to the semantic
differential scale, with the difference that
numbers on a five-point or seven-point scale
are provided.
• Itemized rating scale:

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