Measurements & Scaling Techniques in Research

MEASUREMENTS &
SCALING
Rajesh Timane, PhD

Syllabus
Measurement and Scaling Techniques
Measurement in research
Measurement Scales
Source of errors in measurement
Test for sound measurement
Techniques for developing measurement tools
Scaling – Meaning
Scale classification bases
Important Scaling Techniques
Scale construction techniques

Measurement Scales
Nominal - No properties - labelling
Ordinal - Inequalities - order
Interval - Differences - rule based intervals
Ratio - Quotients - absolute / true zero

Source of errors in Measurement
(a) 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 fatigue, boredom, anxiety, etc. may limit the ability of the respondent
to respond accurately and fully.
(b) 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
anonymity is not assured, he may be reluctant to express certain feelings.
(c) 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 creep in because of incorrect coding, faulty tabulation and/or statistical calculations,
particularly in the data-analysis stage.
(d) 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.

Test for sound Measurement
1. Test of Validity* Validity is the most critical criterion and indicates the degree to which an instrument
measures what it is supposed to measure. Validity can also be thought of as utility. In other words,
validity is the extent to which differences found with a measuring instrument reflect true differences
among those being tested.
a) Content validity is the extent to which a measuring instrument provides adequate coverage of the
topic under study. If the instrument contains a representative sample of the universe, the content validity
is good. Its determination is primarily judgmental and intuitive. It can also be determined by using a
panel of persons who shall judge how well the measuring instrument meets the standards, but there is
no numerical way to express it.

b) Criterion-related validity relates to our ability to predict some outcome or estimate the existence of
some current condition. This form of validity reflects the success of measures used for some empirical
estimating purpose. The concerned criterion must possess the following qualities: Relevance, Freedom
from bias, Reliability, & Availability.
Criterion-related validity is a broad term that actually refers to (i) Predictive validity and (ii) Concurrent
validity. The former refers to the usefulness of a test in predicting some future performance whereas the
latter refers to the usefulness of a test in closely relating to other measures of known validity. Criterion-
related validity is expressed as the coefficient of correlation between test scores and some measure of
future performance or between test scores and scores on another measure of known validity.
c) Construct validity is the most complex and abstract. A measure is said to possess construct validity to
the degree that it confirms to predicted correlations with other theoretical propositions. Construct
validity is the degree to which scores on a test can be accounted for by the explanatory constructs of a
sound theory. For determining construct validity, we associate a set of other propositions with the results
received from using our measurement instrument. If measurements on our devised scale correlate in a
predicted way with these other propositions, we can conclude that there is some construct validity.

2. Test of Reliability
The test of reliability is another important test of sound measurement. A measuring instrument is reliable
if it provides consistent results. Reliable measuring instrument does contribute to validity, but a reliable
instrument need not be a valid instrument. For instance, a scale that consistently overweighs objects by
five kgs., is a reliable scale, but it does not give a valid measure of weight. But the other way is not true
i.e., a valid instrument is always reliable. Accordingly reliability is not as valuable as validity, but it is easier
to assess reliability in comparison to validity.
3. Test of Practicality
The practicality characteristic of a measuring instrument can be judged in terms of economy, convenience
and interpretability. From the operational point of view, the measuring instrument ought to be practical
i.e., it should be economical, convenient and interpretable.

Measurements & Scaling Techniques in Research

Techniques for developing measurement tools
The technique of developing measurement tools involves a four-stage process, consisting of the
following:
(a) Concept development;
(b) Specification of concept dimensions;
(c) Selection of indicators; and
(d) Formation of index.

Scaling – Meaning
While measuring attitudes and opinions, we face the problem of their valid measurement. Similar
problem may be faced by a researcher, of course in a lesser degree, while measuring physical or
institutional concepts. As such we should study some procedures which may enable us to measure
abstract concepts more accurately. This brings us to the study of scaling techniques.
Scaling describes the procedures of assigning numbers to various degrees of opinion, attitude and other
concepts. This can be done in two ways viz., (i) making a judgement about some characteristic of an
individual and then placing him directly on a scale that has been defined in terms of that characteristic
and (ii) constructing questionnaires in such a way that the score of individual’s responses assigns him a
place on a scale.
Scaling has been defined as a “procedure for the assignment of numbers (or other symbols) to a property
of objects in order to impart some of the characteristics of numbers to the properties in question

The number assigning procedures or the scaling procedures may be broadly classified on one or more of
the following bases:
(a) subject orientation;
(b) response form;
(c) degree of subjectivity;
(d) scale properties;
(e) number of dimensions and
(f) scale construction techniques.

(a) Subject orientation: Under it a scale may be designed to measure characteristics of the respondent
who completes it or to judge the stimulus object which is presented to the respondent. In respect of
the former, we presume that the stimuli presented are sufficiently homogeneous so that the between
stimuli variation is small as compared to the variation among respondents. In the latter approach, we
ask the respondent to judge some specific object in terms of one or more dimensions and we
presume that the between-respondent variation will be small as compared to the variation among
the different stimuli presented to respondents for judging.
(b) Response form: Under this we may classify the scales as categorical and comparative. Categorical
scales are also known as rating scales. These scales are used when a respondent scores some object
without direct reference to other objects. Under comparative scales, which are also known as ranking
scales, the respondent is asked to compare two or more objects. In this sense the respondent may
state that one object is superior to the other or that three models of pen rank in order 1, 2 and 3. The
essence of ranking is, in fact, a relative comparison of a certain property of two or more objects.

(c) Degree of subjectivity: With this basis the scale data may be based on whether we measure
subjective personal preferences or simply make non-preference judgements. In the former case, the
respondent is asked to choose which person he favors or which solution he would like to see employed,
whereas in the latter case he is simply asked to judge which person is more effective in some aspect or
which solution will take fewer resources without reflecting any personal preference.
(d) Scale properties: Considering scale properties, one may classify the scales as nominal, ordinal,
interval and ratio scales. Nominal scales merely classify without indicating order, distance or unique
origin. Ordinal scales indicate magnitude relationships of ‘more than’ or ‘less than’, but indicate no
distance or unique origin. Interval scales have both order and distance values, but no unique origin. Ratio
scales possess all these features.
(e) Number of dimensions: In respect of this basis, scales can be classified as ‘unidimensional’ and
‘multidimensional’ scales. Under the former we measure only one attribute of the respondent or object,
whereas multidimensional scaling recognizes that an object might be described better by using the
concept of an attribute space of ‘n’ dimensions, rather than a single-dimension continuum.

(f) Scale construction techniques: Following are the five main techniques by which scales can be
developed.
(i) Arbitrary approach: It is an approach where scale is developed on ad hoc basis. This is the most widely used
approach. It is presumed that such scales measure the concepts for which they have been designed, although
there is little evidence to support such an assumption.
(ii) Consensus approach: Here a panel of judges evaluate the items chosen for inclusion in the instrument in terms of
whether they are relevant to the topic area and unambiguous in implication.
(iii) Item analysis approach: Under it a number of individual items are developed into a test which is given to a group
of respondents. After administering the test, the total scores are calculated for every one. Individual items are
then analyzed to determine which items discriminate between persons or objects with high total scores and those
with low scores.
(iv) Cumulative scales are chosen on the basis of their conforming to some ranking of items with ascending and
descending discriminating power. In such a scale the endorsement of an item representing an extreme position
should also result in the endorsement of all items indicating a less extreme position.
(v) Factor scales may be constructed on the basis of intercorrelations of items which indicate that a common factor
accounts for the relationship between items. This relationship is typically measured through factor analysis
method

Question Bank
Question 1. Tupperware, the world’s largest plastic food container company wishes to measure the perception of users and non-users
of its products in Nagpur district. You have been asked to design a five point Likert scale to accomplish this task.
Question 2. A telecom industry in Vidarbha region finds out that the stress level among the employees of its sales team is high. It
wishes to measure the magnitude of stress of its employees. Construct a Five Point Likert scale for this study.
Question 3. An IT firm based in Nagpur wishes to measure its employees’ satisfaction level.Develop a Likert Scale for this firm
including at least 10 statements.
Question 4. A hospitality firm based in Nagpur wishes to measure the motivation level of its employees. The firm has consulted you to
develop a Likert Scale for this purpose. What all parameters would you incorporate in the Likert Scale to be designed for this firm?
Develop a Likert Scale consisting of at least 12 statements.
Question 5. A hospital in Nagpur wishes to carry out a survey to measure the attitude of its employees about patient safety in their
facilities. The survey should design to help hospital to ensure safety by creating an environment in which employees share
information, improve safety when problems are identified. The survey should identify the areas needing improvement and repeat its
use to track change over time. Develop a Likert scale for this purpose incorporating at least four parameters and 12 statements.
Question 6. Morning Star Primary School desires to study the attitude of the parents of its’ students towards various aspects of the
school. With this study, they wish to check whether the parents would recommend this school to their friends and colleagues. You
have been conferred with the responsibility to develop a Five-Point Likert Scale to measure Parents’ Attitude.

Question 7. Construct a five-point Likert Scale to study the influence of social networking sites (SNS) on the interpersonal relations of college students
in Nagpur city.

Question 8. An airline industry is in the process of improvising its services. For this it wishes to determine the satisfaction level among its existing customers.
Construct a Five Pont Likert Scale to assist the industry in this study.

References
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2006). Business Research Methods.
New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Zikmund, W. G. (2003). Business Research Methods. New Delhi:
Cengage Learning.

Thank You !
DR. RA JESH TIMANE
+91 98609 31040

Measurements & Scaling Techniques in Research

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