Measurement: Scaling,

Reliability, Validity

CHAPTER 7

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Scale
Is a tool or mechanism by which
individuals are distinguished as to
how they differ from one another
on the variables of interest to our
study.

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scales
There are four basic types of
scales:
1. Nominal Scale
2. Ordinal Scale
3. Interval Scale
4. Ratio Scale

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Nominal Scale
A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to
assign subjects to certain categories or groups.

What is your department?

O Marketing O Maintenance O
Finance
O Production O Servicing O Personnel
O Sales O Public Relations O Accounting

What is your gender?

O Male
O Female

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Nominal Scale
The information that can be
generated from nominal scaling
is to calculate the percentage (or
frequency) of males and females in
our sample of respondents.

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Example 1
Nominally scale the nationality of individuals in
a group of tourists to a country during a certain
year.
We could nominally scale this variable in the
following mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive categories.
American Japanese
Russian Malaysian
Chinese German
Arabian Other

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Example 1
Note that every respondent has to
fit into one of the above categories
and that the scale will allow
computation of the numbers and
percentages of respondents that
fit into them.

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Ordinal Scale
Ordinal scale: not only categorizes variables in
such a way as to denote differences among
various categories, it also rank-orders
categories in some meaningful way.

What is the highest level of education you have

completed?
O Less than High School
O High School/GED Equivalent
O College Degree
O Masters Degree
O Doctoral Degree

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Ordinal Scale
The preference would be ranked
( from best to worse; or from first
to last) and numbered as 1, 2, 3,
and so on.

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Example 2
Rank the following five
characteristics in a job in terms
of how important they are for you.
You should rank the most
important item as 1, the next in
importance a 2, and so on, until
you have ranked each of them 1, 2,
3, 4, or 5.
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Example 2 (Cont.)
Job Characteristic
Ranking
The opportunity provided by the job to:
1. Interacts with others _____
2. Use different skills _____
3. Complete a task to the end _____
4. Serve others _____
5. Work independently _____

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Example 2 (Cont.)
This scale helps the researcher to
determine the percentage of
respondents who consider interaction
with others as most important, those
who consider using a number of skills
as most important, and so on. Such
knowledge might help in designing jobs
that would be seen as most enriched
by the majority of the employees.
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Example 2 (Cont.)
We can see that the ordinal scale
provides more information than the
nominal scale. Even though
differences in the ranking of objects,
persons are clearly known, we do
not know their magnitude.
This deficiency is overcome by
interval scaling.
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 Interval Scale
Interval scale: whereas the nominal
scale allows us only to qualitatively
distinguish groups by categorizing
them into mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive sets, and the
ordinal scale to rank-order the
preferences, the interval scale lets
us measure the distance between any
two points on the scale. (Standard
Deviation & Mean)
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 Interval scale

.John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2009

www.wileyeurope.com/college/sekaran 15
Example 3a
Indicate the extent to which you
agree with the following statements
as they relate to your job, by circling
the appropriate number against each,
using the scale given below.
strongly disagree 1, Disagree 2
Neither Agree Nor Disagree 3
Agree 4, Strongly Agree 5.

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Example 3a (Cont.)
The following opportunities offered
by the job are very important to
me:
Interacting with 1 2 3 4 5
others
Using a number of 1 2 3 4 5
different skills
Completing a task 1 2 3 4 5
from beginning to
end
Serving others 1 2 3 4 5
Working 1 2 3 4 5 17
Example 3a (Cont.)
Suppose that the employees circle the
numbers 3, 1, 2, 4, and 5 for the five items.
The magnitude of difference represented
by the space between points 1 and 2 on
the scale is the same as the magnitude of
difference represented by the space
between points 4 and 5, or between any
other two points. Any number can be added
to or subtracted from the numbers on the
scale, still retaining the magnitude of the
difference.

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Likert Scale
This is an Interval scale and the
differences in responses between
any two points on the scale remain
the same.

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Likert Scale
Is designed to examine how strongly
subjects agree or disagree with
statements on a 5-point scale as
following:
_________________________________
Strongly Neither Agree Strongly
Disagree Disagree Nor Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
______________________________________________________

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Ratio Scale
Ratio scale: overcomes the
disadvantage of the arbitrary origin point
of the interval scale, in that it has an
absolute (in contrast to an arbitrary) zero
point, which is a meaningful
measurement point.

What is your age?

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Ratio Scale

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Ratio Scale
The ratio scale is the most
powerful of the four scales
because it has a unique zero
origin ( not an arbitrary origin).
The differences between scales are
summarized in the next Figure.

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The differences between
scales

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Goodness of Measures

It is important to make sure that

the instrument that we develop to
measure a particular concept is
accurately measuring the
variable, and we are actually
measured the concept that we
set out to measure.
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Goodness of Measures
How can we ensure that the
measures developed are reasonably
good?
First an item analysis of the
responses to the questions tapping
the variable is done.
Then the reliability and validity
of the measures are established.
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Item Analysis
Item analysis is done to see if the items in
the instrument belong there or not. Each
item is examined for its ability to
discriminate between those subjects whose
total scores are high, and those with low
scores.
In item analysis, the means between the
high-score group and the low-score group
are tested to detect significant differences
through the t-values.
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Item Analysis
The items with a high t-value are
then included in the instrument.
Thereafter, tests for the reliability
of the instrument are done and the
validity of the measure is
established.

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Reliability
Reliability of measure indicates
extent to which it is without bias
and hence ensures consistent
measurement across time
(stability) and across the various
items in the instrument (internal
consistency).

66
 Stability

Stability: ability of a measure to

remain the same over time,
despite uncontrollable testing
conditions or the state of the
respondentsReliability:
TestRetest themselves.
The
reliability coefficient obtained with a
repetition of the same measure on a
second occasion.
Parallel-Form Reliability: Responses
on two comparable sets of measures
tapping the same construct are highly 84 30
Validity
Validity tests show how well an
instrument that is developed measures
the particular concept it is intended
to measure. Validity is concerned with
whether we measure the right concept.
Several types of validity tests are
used to test the goodness of measures:
content validity, criterion-related
validity, and construct validity.
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Content Validity
Content validity ensures that the measure
includes an adequate and representative
set of items that tap the concept.
The more the scale items represent the
domain of the concept being measured, the
greater the content validity.
In other words, content validity is a
function of how well the dimensions and
elements of a concept have been
delineated.

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Criterion-Related Validity
Criterion-Related Validity is established
when the measure differentiates individuals
on a criterion it is expected to predict. This
can be done by establishing what is called
concurrent validity or predictive
validity.
Concurrent validity is established when
the scale discriminates individuals who
are known to be different; that is, they
should score differently on the instrument
as in the following example.
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Criterion-Related Validity
Example 12
If a measure of work ethic is
developed and administered to a group
of welfare recipients, the scale should
differentiate those who are interested
about accepting a job and glad of a
opportunity to be off welfare, from those
who would not want to work even when
offered a job.
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Example 12 (Cont.)
Those with high work values would not
want to be on welfare and would ask for
employment. Those who are low on work
values, might exploit the opportunity to
survive on welfare for as long as possible.
If both types of individuals have the
same score on the work values scale,
then the test would not be a measure of
work values , but of something else.

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Construct Validity
Construct Validity testifies to how well the results
obtained from the use of the measure fit the
theories around which the test is designed. This is
assessed through convergent and discriminant
validity.
Convergent validity is established when the
scores obtained with two different instruments
measuring the same concept are highly correlated.
Discriminant validity is established when, based
on theory, two variables are predicted to be
uncorrelated, and the scores obtained by measuring
them are indeed empirically found to be so.

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