Chapter Nine

Measurement &
Scaling

Chapter Objectives
Identify the four levels of measurement
under which numbers generated through a
survey can be classified.
Distinguish among attributes, behavioral
variables, beliefs, and attitudes.
List and describe five methods for inferring
people's attitudes.

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Chapter Objectives (Contd)

Discuss the various dimensions on which
rating scales can vary.
Apply the formats of Likert, semanticdifferential, and Stapel scales and discuss
how data generated by these scales are
analyzed and interpreted.
Define validity, reliability, and sensitivity of a
scale.

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Harris Interactive:
U.S.Based Survey
Reputation Score of Top
Ten Corporations

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Harris Interactive: U.S. Based Survey Six

Dimensions of Reputation
Emotional Appeal
Financial
Performance

Products and
Services
Reputation
Workplace
Environment

Social
Responsibility

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Vision and
Leadership

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20 Attributes of the Six Dimensions

Measured Using a 7 Point Scale
Emotional Appeal
Like
Respect
Trust

Workplace Environment
Well managed
Appealing workplace
Employee Talent

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20 Attributes of the Six Dimensions

Measured Using a 7 Point Scale (Contd)
Products and Services

Innovative
Strong brand
Quality
Value

Social Responsibility
Citizenship
Environmental stewardship
Ethics
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Six Dimensions and Its Scales

Vision and Leadership
Clear values
Strong leadership
Inspiring vision

Financial Performance

Growth prospects
Past results
Recognizes opportunities
Low risk

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Measurement
Measurement is the assignment of numbers
to observations [or responses] according to
some set of rules

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Measurement Levels

Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio

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Nominal-Scaled Responses
Numbers forming a nominal scale are no
more than labels used solely to identify
different categories of responses
Example: What is your sex?
Male
Female

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Nominal-Scaled Responses (Contd)

Which one of the following media influences
your purchasing decisions the most?

Television
Radio
Newspapers
Magazines
Internet

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Central Tendency Mode

The mode is the most frequent category only statistics applicable to nominal variable

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Ordinal-Scaled Responses
An ordinal scale is more powerful than a
nominal scale in that the numbers possess
the property of rank order
How long do you spend reading newspapers
on a typical weekday?

Less than 5 minutes

5 minutes to less than 15 minutes
15 minutes to less than 30 minutes
30 minutes or more

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Mode and Median

The mode and the median are the most
meaningful measures of central tendency for
ordinal-scaled responses
Median the category in which the 50th
percentile response falls when all responses
are arranged from lowest to highest (or vice
versa)

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Consider the following distribution of responses

to the question about reading newspapers
In this case, the mode is category 1, and the
median is category 2.
Response Category

Percentage of Respondents
Checking Category

40

25

25

10

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Interval-Scaled Responses
An interval scale has all the properties of an
ordinal scale and the differences between the
scale values can be meaningfully interpreted

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Interval-Scaled Responses (Contd)

How likely are you to buy a new automobile within the
next six months?
(Please check the most appropriate category.)
Will definitely not buy
Extremely unlikely
Unlikely
Likely
Extremely likely
Will definitely buy

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_____
(1)
_____
(2)
_____
(3)
_____
(4)
_____
(5)
_____
(6)

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Exhibit 9.1 Impact of Arbitrariness of an

Interval Scales Starting Point

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Ratio-Scaled Responses
Ratio scales possess all the properties of an
interval scale and the ratios of numbers on
these scales have meaningful interpretations
What is your annual income before taxes?
$______
How far is your workplace from your home?
_____ miles

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Classes of Variables

Attributes
Behavior
Beliefs
Attitudes

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Attitudes
Attitudes are similar to beliefs, except that
they also involve respondents evaluative
judgments
For instance, do respondents feel print
advertisements for cigarettes should be
banned?

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Attitudes
Conceptually and Operationally
A conceptual definition of attitude may be a
predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to
a stimulus object
An operational definition of attitude refers to a
persons attitude towards a particular retail store that
may be measured as the total of the persons
expressed degree of agreement, on a 5-point,
strongly agree to strongly disagree scale, with
each of a set of 20 evaluative statements about
various aspects of the retail store

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Attitude Scaling
Attitudes
Widely believed to be a key determinant of behavior
Can only be inferred and cannot be directly
ascertained

Measures in which inferences are drawn from

Observed overt behavior

Individual's reaction
Performance on objective tasks
Physiological reactions

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Observing Overt Behavior

Observation of overt behavior is useful when
other attitude measurement methods are
inconvenient or infeasible
An observation study can be used to
ascertain the attitudes of very young children
toward a variety of toys

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Analyzing Reactions to Partially

Structured Stimuli
Projective Techniques
The approach of analyzing reactions to
partially structured stimuli involves asking
respondents to react to or describe in some
fashion, an incomplete, vague stimulus

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Evaluating Performance on
Objective Tasks
To evaluate performance on objective tasks,
respondents are asked to complete an
ostensibly objective, well-defined task
The nature of their performance is then
analyzed to infer their attitudes

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Monitoring Physiological Responses

Monitoring physiological responses is based
on the premise that a person's emotional
reactions to a stimulus will be accompanied
by corresponding involuntary physiological
changes

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Self-report Measurements of Attitudes

This method involves asking respondents
relatively direct questions concerning
attitudes toward whatever is of interest to the
researcher
The questions are typically in the form of
rating scales on which respondents check off
appropriate positions that best reflect their
feelings

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Graphic Formats
A graphic rating scale presents a continuum,
in the form of a straight line, along which a
theoretically infinite number of ratings are
possible
Example: Indicate your overall opinion about
eBay by placing a mark at an appropriate
position on the line below.
Very
Bad
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Very
Good
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Itemized Formats
Itemized rating scales have a set of distinct
response categories
Any suggestion of an attitude continuum
underlying the categories is implicit
They essentially take the form of the multiplecategory questions

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Comparative Assessments
Comparative Rating Scale
Provides all respondents with a common
frame of reference
Allows the researcher to be confident that all
respondents are answering the same question

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Non-comparative Assessments
Non-comparative Rating Scale
Implicitly permits respondents to use any
frame of reference or no frame of
reference at all

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Forced Response Choices

A forced-choice scale does not give
respondents the option of expressing a
neutral or middle-ground attitude

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Forced Response Choices (Contd)

Indicate your overall opinion about eBay by checking one of the
following categories:
Very
Bad
Bad
[ ] [ ] [ ]
1
2
3

[ ]
4

Neither Bad
Very
nor Good
Good
Good
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
5
6
7
8
9

What is your overall rating of eBay in comparison with other

auction sites?
Much worse
( )

Worse About the same Better

( )
( )
( )

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Much better
( )

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Non-forced Response Choices

A non-forced-choice scale give respondents
the option to express a neutral attitude

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Non-forced Response Choices (Contd)

Indicate your overall opinion about eBay by placing a
mark in the category that best summarizes your
feelings.
Very
Bad
[ ] [ ] [ ]
1
2
3

[ ]
4

[ ]
5

[ ]
6

[ ]
7

Very
Good
[ ] [ ]
8
9

What is your overall rating of eBay in comparison with other

auction sites?
Much worse
( )

Worse
( )

Better
( )

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Much better
( )

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Balanced Response Choices

A balanced scale is one that has an equal
number of positive/favorable and
negative/unfavorable response choices

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Balanced Response Choices (Contd)

Indicate your overall opinion about eBay by checking one of the
following categories:
Very
Bad
Bad
[ ] [ ] [ ]
1
2
3

[ ]
4

Neither Bad
Very
nor Good
Good
Good
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
5
6
7
8
9

What is your overall rating of eBay in comparison with other

auction sites?
Much worse
( )

Worse About the same Better

( )
( )
( )

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Much better
( )

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Unbalanced Response Choices

An unbalanced rating scale that can be used
if respondents opinions about a subject are
anticipated to be predominantly positive

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Labeled Response Choices

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Unlabeled Response Choices

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Exhibit 9.2 Rating Scales with

Picture Labels

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Number of Scale Positions

A scale with a large number of positions will
not be meaningful if respondents are unable
to make fine mental distinctions with respect
to whatever is being measured
More precise measurements should result as
the number of scale positions increase

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Paired Comparison Scale

In each of the following pairs, which store do you
think is better?
(please check one online auction site within each pair)
_______ Amazon or_______ eBay
_______ eBay or
_______ Yahoo! Auction
_______ PriceLine.com or _______ eBay
_______ eBay or
_______ Ubid.com

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Commonly Used Multiple-item Scales

Likert Scale
Semantic-Differential Scale
Stapel Scale

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Table 9.2 Likert Scale Items

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Neither
Agree nor
Disagree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

The online auction site

contains an abundance of exhibits

________

________

________

________

________

User registration
is complex at this site

________

________

________

________

________

The auction site commission

is reasonable

________

________

________

________

________

The auction site responds

to complaints quickly

________

________

________

________

________

The auction site is not

careful with personal information

________

________

________

________

________

The auction site support

system is confusing

________

________

________

________

________

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Exhibit 9.3 Semantic-Differential

Scale Items

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Exhibit 9.4 Pictorial Profiles Based on

Semantic-Differential Ratings

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Table 9.3 Stapel Scale

Abundance
of
Exhibits

Complex
User
Registration

Low
Commission

Good
Response
to
Complaints

Poor
Protection
of Personal
Information

Confusing
Support
System

+5

+5

+5

+5

+5

+5

+4

+4

+4

+4

+4

+4

+3

+3

+3

+3

+3

+3

+2

+2

+2

+2

+2

+2

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

-3

-3

-3

-3

-3

-3

-4

-4

-4

-4

-4

-4

-5

-5

-5

-5

-5

-5

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Strengths Of Multiple-Item Scales

Validity
Content validity
Construct validity
Predictive validity

Reliability
Test-retest reliability
Split-half reliability

Sensitivity

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Validity
The validity of a scale is the extent to which it
is a true reflection of the underlying variable it
is attempting to measure

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Content Validity
Face validity or content validity is the extent
to which the content of a measurement scale
seems to tap all relevant facets of an issue
that can influence respondents attitudes

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Exhibit 9.5 Types of Equivalence

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Construct Validity
Construct Validity is the nature of the
underlying variable or construct measured by
the scale

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Predictive Validity
Predictive Validity refers to how well the
attitude measure provided by the scale
predicts some other variable or characteristic

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Reliability
Reliability measures how consistent or stable
the ratings generated by the scale are likely
to be

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Test-Retest Reliability
Test-Retest Reliability measures the stability
of ratings over time and involves
administering the scale to the same group of
respondents at two different times

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Split-Half Reliability
Split-Half Reliability measures the degree of
consistency across items within a scale and
can only be assessed for multiple-item scales

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Sensitivity
Sensitivity focuses specifically on its ability to
detect subtle differences in the attitudes being
measured

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