Measurement and Scaling Techniques

Seema Dhami
 Measurement in Research
• Measurement is the assessment of objects , events or
phenomena in quantitative terms.it is a relatively complex
and demanding task, specially when it concerns qualitative or
abstarct phenomena.

• Measurement is the process of assigning numbers to objects

or observations, the level of measurement being a function of
the rules under which the numbers are assigned. It is easy to
assign numbers in respect of properties of some objects, but it
is relatively difficult in respect of others. In our daily life we
measure weight, height, or some other feature of a physical
object. We also measure when we judge how well we like a
song, a painting or the personalities of our friends. We, thus,
measure physical objects as well as abstract concepts.
 Cont...

Measurement is a relatively complex and demanding

task, especially so when it concerns qualitative
phenomena. For instance, properties like weight,
height, etc. can be measured directly with some
standard unit of measurement, but it is not that easy
to measure properties like motivation to succeed or
ability to stand stress.
 Cont...
Also measuring things like social conformity,
intelligence, or marital adjustment is much less
obvious and requires much closer attention than
measuring physical weight, biological age or a
person’s financial assets. Therefore if the concept is
abstract and the measurement tools are not
standardized, we are less confident about the
accuracy of the results of measurement.
 What is measurement and scaling?

Data consists of quantitative variables, like price,

income, sales etc., and qualitative variables like
knowledge, performance, character etc. The
qualitative information must be converted into
numerical form for further analysis. This is possible
through measurement and scaling techniques. So
measurement and scaling are common features of
research to have respondent’s feelings, attitudes,
opinions, etc. in some measurable form.
 Measurement

The term ‘measurement’ means assigning numbers or

some other symbols to the characteristics of certain
objects. When numbers are used, the researcher must
have rule for assigning a number to an observation in
a way that provides an accurate description.
Measurement is the process of observing and
recording the observations that are collected as part
of research. The recording of the observations may
be in terms of numbers or other symbols to
characteristics of objects according to certain
prescribed rules.
 Cont...

The respondent’s, characteristics are feelings,

attitudes, opinions etc. The most important aspect of
measurement is the specification of rules for
assigning numbers to characteristics. The rules for
assigning numbers should be standardized and
applied uniformly.
 Scaling

Scaling is the assignment of objects to numbers or

semantics according to a rule. In scaling, the objects
are text statements, usually statements of attitude,
opinion, or feeling. For example, consider a scale
locating clients of a law firm according to the
characteristic “agreement to the satisfactory quality of
service provided by the branch”.
 Cont...
Each client interviewed may respond with a semantic like
‘strongly agree’, or ‘somewhat agree’, or ‘somewhat
disagree’, or ‘strongly disagree’. We may even assign each
of the responses a number. For example, we may assign
strongly agree as ‘1’, agree as ‘2’ disagree as ‘3’ and
strongly disagree as ‘4’. Therefore, each of the respondents
may assign 1, 2, 3 or 4.
Scaling can be done in two ways:
i) making a judgment about some characteristic of an
individual and then placing her/him directly on a scale that
has been defined in terms of that characteristic
ii) Constructing questionnaires in such a way that the score
of individual’s responses assigns him a place on a scale
 Objective of Measurement & Scaling Technique

The Measurement & Scaling Technique helps us to:

• explain the concepts of measurement and scaling,
• discuss four levels of measurement scales,
• classify and discuss different scaling techniques,
• select an appropriate attitude measurement scale
for our research problem.
 Sources of Error in Measurement

The following are the possible sources of error in

measurement.
Respondent:
At times the respondent may be reluctant to express
strong negative feelings or it is just possible that he
may have very little knowledge but may not admit
his ignorance. All this reluctance is likely to result in
an interview of ‘guesses.’ Transient factors like
tiredness, boredom, anxiety, etc. may limit the ability
of the respondent to respond accurately and fully.
 Cont...

Situation:
Situational factors may also come in the way of
correct measurement. Any condition which places a
strain on interview can have serious effects on the
interviewer-respondent rapport. For instance, if
someone else is present, he can distort responses by
joining in or merely by being present. If the
respondent feels that secrecy is not assured, he may
be reluctant to express certain feelings.
 Cont...
Measurer
The interviewer can distort responses by rewording
or reordering questions. His behavior, style and looks
may encourage or discourage certain replies from
respondents. Careless mechanical processing may
distort the findings. Errors may also happen because
of incorrect coding, faulty tabulation and/or statistical
calculations, particularly in the data-analysis stage.
 Cont...
Instrument
Error may arise because of the defective measuring
instrument. The use of complex words, beyond the
comprehension of the respondent, ambiguous
meanings, poor printing, inadequate space for
replies, response choice omissions, etc. are a few
things that make the measuring instrument defective
and may result in measurement errors. Another type
of instrument deficiency is the poor sampling of the
universe of items of concern.
 Levels of Measurement Scales

The level of measurement refers to the relationship

among the values that are assigned to the
attributes, feelings or opinions for a variable. The
most widely used classification of measurement
scales or are four levels of measurement scales or
methods of assigning numbers are:

• Nominal scale
• Ordinal scale
• Interval scale and
• Ratio scale.
 Nominal Scale

In this scale the different scores on a measurement

simply indicate different categories. The nominal
scale does not express any values or relationships
between variables. The nominal scale is often
referred to as a categorical scale. The assigned
numbers have no arithmetic properties and act only
as labels.
For example: labeling men as ‘1’ and women as ‘2’
which is the most common way of labeling gender
for data recording purpose does not mean women are
‘twice something or other’ than men. Nor it suggests
that men are somehow ‘better’ than women.
 Ordinal Scale
In this scale, the items are classified according to
whether they have more or less of a characteristic. The
main characteristic of the ordinal scale is that the
categories have a logical or ordered relationship. This
type of scale permits the measurement of degrees of
difference, (i.e. ‘more’ or ‘less’) but not the specific
amount of differences (i.e. how much ‘more’ or ‘less’).
This scale is very common in satisfaction and attitudinal
research.
For example, a law firm may wish to ask its clients:
How would you rate the service of our staff?
(1) Excellent (2) Very Good (3) Good (4) Poor (5)
Worst
 Interval Scale
is a scale in which the numbers are used to rank
attributes in such a way that numerically equal distances
on the scale represent equal distance in the characteristic
being measured. An interval scale contains all the
information of an ordinal scale, but it also one allows to
compare the difference/distance between attributes.

For example, the difference between ‘1’ and ‘2’ is equal

to the difference between ‘3’ and ‘4’. Further, the
difference between ‘2’ and ‘4’ is twice the difference
between ‘1’ and ‘2’. Measuring temperature is an
example of interval scale. But, we cannot say 40°C is
twice as hot as 20°C.
 Ratio Scale
is the highest level of measurement scales. This has the
properties of an interval scale together with a fixed (absolute)
zero point. The absolute zero point allows us to construct a
meaningful ratio. Ratio scales permit the researcher to
compare both differences in scores and relative magnitude of
scores. Examples of ratio scales include weights, lengths and
times.

For example, the number of subscribers of a Nepal

Telecommunication in the last three months is a ratio scale.
This is because you can compare this with previous three
months. For example, the difference between 10 and 15
minutes is the same as the difference between 25 and 30
minutes and 30 minutes is twice as long as 15 minutes.
 Problems in Measurment

a. Validity
It is most ctirical criterion and indicates the degree to
which an instrument of as utility. Validity concerns
questions of definition , meaning , explanation and
prediction.
It involves an analysis of whether the operational
definition produces an acurate indicator of a
somewhat more abstract variable or a considerably
more abstract concept or compound concept .
 Cont...

Kind of validity
• Face validity
• Predictive validity
• Content validity
• Construct validity

b. Realilbility :It is the extent to which their measuring procedures

product similar result time after time on similar group of the
subject .Reliable measuring instrument is relaible if it provides consistent
results. They also assess the validity of measuring instruments in order
tobe sure that the measurment techinques measure what thet claim to be
able to
Kind of Realibility
• Instrumement realibility
• Phenomenon realibility
• Observer realibility
 Cont...
c.Stability : it refers to uniform measurment over time .This is hasr to
confirm because it is difficilut to know whether changes in measurment
are a result of instabilty or of actual changes in the phenemena being
measured . A standard techique for measuring stability is the test-retest
appraoch in which the same test is admistered at a latter period of time

d. Consistency: It is refers to uniform recording , coding and

application of measurment rules at one particular time .Consistency
measures are based or the assumption that indicators designed to
measures the something should be highly coorelated with each other .

e.Preciseness: In the interest or both accuracy of judgement as well as

the discovery of consistent relationship among characteristics that vary
in amount as well as kind, statement that merely affirm or deny
difference have to be repalces by more precise statement indicating the
degree of difference.
 Conclusion

Therefore there are four levels of measurements:

nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. The
measurement scales, commonly used in marketing
research, can be divided into two types; comparative
and non-comparative scales. A number of scaling
techniques are available for measurement of
attitudes. There is no unique way that you can use to
select a particular scaling technique for your research
study.