Measurement and Scaling
Measurement means assigning numbers or symbols to characteristics of objects according to certain pre-specified rules.
- One-to-one correspondence between numbers and the characteristics being measured.
- The rules for assigning numbers should be standardized and applied uniformly.
- Rules must not change over time.
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Scale Characteristics
Description: By description, we mean the unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate each value of the scale. All scales possess description.
Order: By order, we mean the relative sizes or positions of the descriptors. Order is denoted by descriptors such as greater than, less than, and equal to.
Distance: The characteristic of distance means that absolute differences between the scale descriptors are known and may be expressed in units.
Origin: The origin characteristic means that the scale has a unique or fixed beginning or true zero point.
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Primary Scales of Measurement
| Scale | Fig. 8.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Numbers Assigned to Runners | |
| Ordinal | Rank Order of Winners | Third place Second place |
| Interval | Performance Rating on a 0 to 10 Scale | 8.2 9.5 |
| Ratio | Time to Finish in Seconds | 15.2 14.1 |
Primary Scales of Measurement
| Scale | Basic Characteristics | Common Examples | Marketing Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Numbers identify & classify objects | Social Security nos., numbering of football players | Brand nos., store types |
| Ordinal | Nos. indicate the relative positions of objects but not the magnitude of differences between them | Quality rankings, rankings of teams in a tournament | Preference rankings, market position, social class |
| Interval | Differences between objects | Temperature (Fahrenheit) | Attitudes, opinions, index |
| Ratio | Zero point is fixed, ratios of scale values can be compared | Length, weight | Age, sales, income, costs |
Four types of scales are generally used for Marketing Research:
- Nominal Scale
- Ordinal Scale
- Interval Scale
- Ratio Scale
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Nominal Scale
- It consists of assignment of facts/choices to categories which are usually exhaustive as well.
- These scales are just numerical and are the least powerful scales.
- Instances of Nominal Scale are - credit card numbers, employee id numbers etc. It is simple when relationship between two variables is 1:1.
- In a Nominal Scale numbers are no more than labels specifically to identify different categories of responses.
- Example is - a survey of retail stores done on maintaining stocks and daily turnover.
- How do you stock items at present?
( ) By product category
( ) At a centralized store
[ ] Department wise
[ ] Single warehouse - Daily turnover of consumer is?
( ) Between 100 – 200
[ ] Between 200 - 300
[ ] Above 300
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A two way classification can be made as follows:
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| Daily/Stock Turnover Method | Product Category | Department wise | Centralized Store | Single Warehouse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 - 200 | ||||
| 200-300 | ||||
| Above 300 |
2.Ordinal Scale
- Ordinal scales are the simplest attitude scales used in Marketing Research.
- It is more powerful than a nominal scale in that it has the property of rank order.
- The ranking of certain product attributes important by the respondents is obtained through ordinal scales.
- Example 1: Rank the following attributes (1 - 5), for a microwave oven.
- Company Name
- Functions
- Price
- Comfort
- Design
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- The most important attribute is ranked 1 by the respondent and the least important is ranked 5. Instead of numbers, letters can also be used to rate in a ordinal scale. Such scale makes it easy to judge the degree of favourability of different rankings.
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- Example 2 - If there are 4 different types of fruits ordered on the basis of quality as Grade A, Grade B, Grade C, Grade D is again an Ordinal Scale.
- Example 3 - If there are 5 different brands of soaps and the respondent ranks them based on say, "Freshness Rank 1 the maximum Freshness Rank 2 the second maximum Freshness and so on, an Ordinal Scale results.
- Median and mode are meaningful for ordinal data.
3.Interval Scale
- Herein the distance between the various points on the Nominal, or numbers unlike in Ordinal, are equal and hence these are Interval Scales.
- The Interval Scales are also termed as Rating Scales.
- An Interval Scale has an arbitrary Zero point which is placed at equal intervals.
- A very good example of Interval Scale is a Thermometer.
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Illustration 1 - How do you rate your present refrigerator?
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company Name | Less Known | |||
| Functions | Few | |||
| Price | Low | |||
| Design | Poor | |||
| Overall Satisfaction | Very Dissatisfied - Satisfied |
- The data obtained from the Interval Scale can be used to calculate Mean scores of each attributes over all respondents.
- The Standard Deviation (a measure of dispersion) can also be calculated.
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4.Ratio Scale
- It has meaningful zero point
- With this scale length, weight or distance can be measured.
- In this scale, it is possible to say, how many times greater one object is being compared to the other.
- Eg : sales this year for product A are twice that of the product last year.
- All statistical operations can be performed on ratio scales.
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Scaling Techniques
- Likert Scale
- It was developed by Rensis Likert.
- Here the respondents are asked to indicate agreement and disagreement with each of a series of statements.
- Each scale item has 5 response categories ranging from strongly agree and strongly disagree.
| 5 | 4 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | Agree | Indifferent |
- For example quality of Mother Diary ice-cream is not good is a negative statement and Strongly Agree will mean that the quality is not good.
- Each degree of agreement is given a numerical score and the respondents total score is computed by summing these scores. The total score of respondent reveals the particular opinion.
- Thus, likert scale is a five point scale ranging from 'strongly agreement 'to 'strongly disagreement'. No judgment is involved in this method.
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Semantic Differential Scale
- This is a seven point scale and the end points are associated with bipolar labels.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unpleasant | ||||
| Submissive |
- When Semantic Differential Scale is used to develop an image it provides a good basis for comparing images.
- The big advantage of this scale is its simplicity while being compared with those of the more complex scaling techniques.
- The method is easy and fast to administer, produces reliable and valid.
- Mean and median are used for comparison to determine overall similarities and differences among the objects.
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Stapel's Scale
- It was developed by Jan Stapel. This scale has several unique features:-
- Each item has only one word/phrase indicating the attribute it represents.
- Each item has ten response categories.
- Each item has an even number of categories.
- The response categories have numerical labels.
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- For example, in the following items, suppose we ask respondents to rank from +5 to -5.
- Select a plus number for words which best describe ice cream quality accurately.
- Select a minus number for words you think describe ice cream quality accurately.
- Thus, we can select any number from +5,for words we think are accurate, to -5,for words we think are very inaccurate.
- This scale is usually presented vertically.
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- +5
- +4
- +3
- +2
- +1
- High Quality
- -1
- -2
- -3
- -4
- -5
- This is a unipolar rating scale.
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Multi-Dimensional Scaling (Perceptual Mapping)
- This is used to study consumer attitudes, particularly perceptions and preferences.
- These techniques help identify the product attributes important to the customers and to measure their relative importance.
- This is used to describe similarity and preference judgments.
- This is also known as Perceptual Mapping
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- There are two ways of collecting the input data for perceptual mapping.
- Non-attribute method
- Attribute method
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- Non-Attribute method
- Here, researcher asks the respondent to make a judgment directly.
- In this method, the criteria for comparing the objects is left to the respondent himself
- Attribute method
- In this method, instead of respondents selecting the criteria to compare the objects based on the criteria specified by the researcher.
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Thurston Scales
- These are also known as equal appearing interval scales.
- They are used to measure the attitude towards a given construct.
- For this purpose a large number of statements are generated that relate to the concept or construct being measured.
- The judges rate these statements along an 11 category scale each category expresses a different degree of favourableness towards the concept.
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Thurston Scales
- The statements are worded in such a way so that respondents can agree or disagree with them.
- The scale is then administered to assemble data and individual scores are determined by computing the median value of the items agreed with.
- A person who disagrees with all the items has a zero score. The advantage of this scale is that it is an interval scale. The disadvantage is it is the time consuming method and labour intensive.
- They are commonly used in psychology and education.
Eg: crime and violence in movies
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- All movies with crime and violence should be prohibited
- Watching crime and violence in movies is a waste of time
- Most movies with crime are bad and harmful.
- The direction and theme in most crime movies are meaningless
- Watching a movie with crime and violence does not increase crime
- I have no opinion one way or the other, about watching crime and violence
- I like to watch crime and violence in movie
- Most movies with crime and violence are interesting
- Crime movies acts as knowledge bank gained by the audience
- People learn "how to be safe and protect oneself" by watching crime movies
- Watching crime in a movie does not harm our life
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Thurston Scales
8 9 10 - Favourable attitude towards crime & violence
1 3 4 -- Unfavourable attitude towards crime & violence
1 5 11 - not consistent about subject
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This download link is referred from the post: VTU MBA Lecture Notes - 1st Sem, 2nd Sem, 3rd Sem and 4th Sem || Visvesvaraya Technological University
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