RATING SCALE

INTRODUCTION

 Rating is the assessment of a person by another person.

 Rating is a term applied to expression of opinion or judgement regarding some
situation, object or character. Opinion are usually expressed on a scale of values.-
Barr and Others
 Rating scale records how much or how well it happened. Quantitative and
qualitative terms will be used.

DEFINITION OF A RATING SCALE

Rating scale refers to a scale with a set of opinion, which describes varying degree of
the dimensions of an attitude or a phenomenon being observed.

Rating scale is a device by which judgements may be qualified or a opinion concerning a

trait can be systematized.

-Suresh K. Sharma

 A Rating Scale is a tool in which one person simply checks off another person’s
level of performance. It could be a 3-point, a 5-point or a 7-point rating scale.
 Rating scales measure how much or how well something happened, where
generally quantitative and qualitative terms are used to judge the performance. A wide
variety of attributes may be assessed by using rating scales;
 How frequently do you discuss with your clinical instructor the difficulties
encountered during clinical posting?

Always Sometimes Never

3-point rating scale

 The overall performance of the student in a mouth care procedure.

Excellen Very good Good Average Poor

5-point rating scale

TYPES OF RATING SCALE

1. Graphic Rating Scale:
In this scale, the performance is printed horizontally at various points from lowest to
highest.
It includes the numerical points on the scale.
It is anchored by two extremes presented to respondents for the evaluation of a concept
or object.
For example: how satisfied are you with the lecture delivered by Professor X?
Least Most

Graphic rating scale

2. Descriptive Rating Scale:

This type of rating scale does not use numbers but divides the assessment into a series of
verbal phrases to indicate the level of performance.
For Example: Judge the level of performance of the nursing personnel in a medical ICU

Nursing Level of Clinical Performance

Personnel
in a Ward
V A Mo P
e c der a
r t ate s
y i ly s
v Ac i
A e tiv v
c e e
t
i
v
e
1. Amandeep
2. Tara
3. Kirandeep

3.Numerical Rating Scale:

It divides the evaluation criteria into a fixed number of points and defines only numbers
except at the extremes.

For Example: Pain assessment numerical scale.

No Pain 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Worst pain

 Numerical rating scale

1. Comparative Rating Scale:

In this type of rating scale, the rater makes a judgement about a person’s attribute by
comparing with other similar person(s).
For Example: Mr Ram’s decision making abilities closely resemble that of Mr Shyam
and Mr Gopal.
In this type of rating scale, the rater must have beforehand knowledge about the selected
attributes of the people with whom the subjects are supposed to be compared.

USES OF RATING SCALES

To evaluate skills, product outcome, activities, interests, attitudes and personnel

characteristics.

CHARACTERISTICS OF RATING SCALE

 Rating scales are value judgements of the attributes of one person by another person.
 These scales are most commonly used tools to carry out structured observations.
 They are generally developed to make quantitative judgements about qualitative
attributes.
 They provide more flexibility to judge the level of performance or presence of
attributes among subjects.
 Guiford(1954) identified that a rating scale must have the following basic
characteristics that must be taken care of while construction of a rating scale.
 Clarity: The rating scale must be constructed using short, concise statements in
simple and unambiguous language.
 Relevance: The statement designed in a rating scale should be relevant to the
phenomenon and should be exactly in accordance with the variables under study.
 Variety: While developing the rating scale, monotony of the statements of the
avoided and variety in different statements must be ensured.
 Objectivity: The statement formed in a rating scale must be objective in nature
so that it is convenient for the rater to judge the attributea or performances of the
subjects under study.
 Uniqueness: Each statement constructed in a rating scale must be unique in
itself so that the attributes can be judged appropriately.

PRINCIPLES OF PREPARING RATING SCALES

It directly relates to learning objectives.

Needs to be confined to performance areas that can be observed.
 Clearly define the specific trait or mode of behaviour.
Allow some space in the rating scale card for the rater to give supplementary
remarks.
3 to 7 rating positions may need to be provided.
There should be provision to omit items, the teacher feels unqualified to judge.
The rater should be unbiased and trained.
All raters should be aware that rating scales are open to errors resulting to
subjective judgements required of the observers.
All raters should be oriented to the specific scale as well as the process of rating
in general.

ADVANTAGES OF RATING SCALE

 Rating scales are easy to administer and score the measured attributes.
 They have a wide range of application in nursing educational evaluation.
 Graphic rating scale is more easy to make and less time consuming.
 Rating scale can be easily used for a large group.
 They are also used for quantitative methods.
 They may also used for the assessment of interests, attitudes and personal
characteristics.
 They are used to evaluate performance and skills and product outcomes.
 Rating scale are adaptable and flexible assessment instruments.

DISADVANTAGES OF RATING SCALES

 It is difficult or dangerous to fix up rating about many aspects of an individual.

 Misuse can result in a decrease in objectivity.
 There are chances of subjective evaluation thus the scales may become unscientific and
unreliable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Basavanthappa B.T. “Nursing Education”, I edition 2003, Jaypee Brother’s
Medical Publishers. Pg-723-733
2. Neeraja K. P.”Textbook of Nursing Education” I edition 2003, Jaypee Brother’s,
Medical Publishers. Pg-428-435.
3. Sharma Suresh K. and Sharma R. “communication and educational technology
in nursing” I edition 2012 Elsevier publishers. Pg-390-393
4. Sudha R. “Nursing Education ,principles and concept ’’I edition, 2013, Jaypee
Brothers medical publishers. Pg-181-183
5. Nima Bhaskar “Text Book of Nursing Education” I Edition, 2013, EMMESS
Publication. Pg-235-240