DIANA

RESEARCH CHAPTER 12
MEASUREMENT: SCALING,
RELIABILITY, VALIDITY
 Measurement
The assignment of numbers or other symbols to characteristics (or attributes)
of objects according to a prespecified set of rules

 Rules for assigning numbers to characteristics (attributes) of objects should

be standardized and applied in a consistent manner
Rating scales
Have several response categories and are used to elicit responses
with regard to the object, event, or person studied
Ranking scales
Make comparisons between or among objects, events, or persons
and elicit the preferred choices and ranking among them
 Scale
A tool or mechanism by which individuals are distinguished as to how they
differ from one another on the variables of interest

 Scaling involves the creation of a continuum on which our objects are

located
 The meaning of the numbers always depends on the type of scale that is in
use
 There are four basic types of scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio
 The degree of power and sophistication to which the scales are fine-tuned
increases as we move from the nominal to the ratio scale
Four Types of Scales
 Nominal Scale
One that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain
categories or groups . Categorize individuals or objects into mutually
exclusive and collectively exhaustive groups
 Gives some basic, categorical, gross information
EXAMPLE
Let us take a look for another variable that lends itself to nominal scaling – the
nationality of individuals. We could nominally scale this variable in the following
mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories.
American Japanese
Australia Polish
Chinese Russian
German Swiss
Indian Zambian
Others

Note that every responden has to fit into one of the above 11 categories and that
the scale allows computation of the numbers and precentages of respondents that
fit into them.
 Ordinal Scale
Not only categorizes the variables in such a way as to denote
differences among the various categories, but also rank-orders the
categories in some meaningful way
 With any variable for which the categories are to be orders
according to some preference, the ordinal scale would be used
 Goes beyond differentiating the categories into providing
information on how respondents distinguish them by rank-ordering
them
 Does not give any indication of the magnitude of the differences
among the ranks
EXAMPLE
Rank the following 5 characteristics in a job in terms of how important the year for
you. You should rank the most important item as 1, the next in importance as 2, and
so on, until you have ranked each of them1,2,3,4 or 5.

Job characteristic Ranking of importance

The opportunity provided by the job to:
Interact with others
--
Use a number of different skills --
Complete a whole task from beginning to end --
Serve others --
Work independently --
 Interval Scale
Allows to perform certain arithmetical operations on the data
collected. Lets us measure the distance between any two points on
the scale
 Is more powerful than the nominal and ordinal scales and has for
its measure of central tendency the arithmetic mean
 Measures of dispersion are the range, the standard deviation, and
the variance
 Ratio Scale
Overcomes the disadvantage of the arbitrary origin point of
the interval scale in that it has an absolute zero point, which is a
meaningful measurement point
 Not only measure the magnitude of the differences between points
on the scale but also taps the proportions in the differences
Table 12.1
Properties of the four scale
Highlights
Some test
Measures Measures of
Scale of
Unique of central dispersion
significants
Difference Order Distance origin tendency
Nominal Yes No No No Mode - ²
Ordinal Median Semi- Rank-order
Yes Yes No No interquartile correlation
range s

Interval Arithmetic Standart t,F

mean deviation,
Yes Yes Yes No variance,
coefficient of
variance
Ratio Arithmetic Standart t,F
or deviation or
Yes Yes Yes Yes geometric variance or
mean coefficient of
variance
EXAMPLE
Indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statement as they relate to
your job, by circling the appropriate number against each, usng the scale given below.

Neither
Stongly agree or Strongly
Disagree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The following opportunities offered by the job are very important to me :
a. Interact with others 1 2 3 4 5
a. Use a number of different skills 1 2 3 4 5
a. Complete a whole task from
1 2 3 4 5
beginning to end
a. Serve others 1 2 3 4 5
a. Work independently 1 2 3 4 5
Now that we have looked at the four types of scales, let us see, through the following
examples, when and how they should be used.
EXAMPLE
Use the nominal scale
The nominal scale is always used for obtaining personal data such as gender or department
which one works, where grouping or individuas or objects is useful, as shown below:

1. Your Gender 2. Your Departement

__Male __Production
__Female __Sales
__Accounting
__Finance
__Personnel
__R&D
__Other (specify)
EXAMPLE
Use the ordinal scale
The ordinal scale is always used rank the preferences or usage of various brands of a product
by individuals and to rank-order individuals, objects, or events, as per the examples below:
1. Rank the following personal computers with respect to their usage in your office, assigning
the number 1 to the most used system,2 to the next most used, and so on. If a particular
system is not used at all in your office, put a 0 next to it.

__Apple __Hawlett-Packard
__Compact __IBM
__Comp USA __Packard Bell
__Dell Computer __Sony
__Gateway __Toshiba
__Other (specify)

2. Rank the cities listed below in the order that you consider suitable for opening a new plant.
The city considered the most suitable should be ranked 1, the next 2 and so on.

__Cincinnati __Milwaukee
__Detroit __Pittsburgh
__Des Moines __St Louis
__Houston
EXAMPLE
Use the interval scale
The interval scale is used when responses to various items that measure a variable
can be tapped on a five-point scale, which can there after be summed across the
items. See the following examples of a Likelert scale.
Using the scale below, please indicated your response to each of theitems that
follow, by circling the number that best describes your feeling.
Neither
Stongly agree or Strongly
Disagree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

1. My jobs offers me a chance to test

1 2 3 4 5
myself and my abilities.
2. Masreing this job mean a lot to me 1 2 3 4 5
3. Doing this job well is a reward in itself 1 2 3 4 5
4. Considering the time spent on the job,
I feel thoroughly familiar with my task and 1 2 3 4 5
resposibilities
EXAMPLE
Use the ratio scale
The ratio scale usually used in business research when exact numbers on objective
factors are called for, as in the following question:
1. How many organizaions did you work for before joining this system? __
2. Please indicate the number of children you have in each of the following
categories:
__below 3 years age
__between 3 and 6
__over 3 years but under 12
__12 years and over
3. How many retail outlets do you operate? __

The responses to the questions could range from 0 to any reasonable figure.
 Review of the scales
i. The nominal scale highlights the difference by classifiying objects
or persons into groups and provide the last amount of
information on the variable.
ii. The ordinal scale provides some additional information by rank-
ordering the categories of the nominal scale.
iii. The interval scale not only ranks, but also provides us with
information on the magnitude of the differences in the variable.
iv. The ratio scale indicates not only the magnitude of the
differences but also their proportion.