Chapter 12

Measurement
Scales

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Business Research Methods, 10e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 12-2

Learning Objectives

Understand…
• The nature of attitudes and their relationship
to behavior.
• The critical decisions involved in selecting
an appropriate measurement scale.
• The characteristics and use of rating,
ranking, sorting, and other preference
scales.
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The Scaling Process

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Nature of Attitudes
I think oatmeal is healthier
Cognitive
than corn flakes for breakfast.

Affective I hate corn flakes.

I intend to eat more oatmeal

Behavioral
for breakfast.
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Improving Predictability

Specific

Multiple
Multiple
measures
measures Strong
Strong

Factors
Factors
Reference
Reference
groups Direct
Direct
groups

Basis
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Selecting a Measurement Scale

Research objectives Response types

Number of
Data properties
dimensions

Balanced or Forced or unforced

unbalanced choices

Number of
Rater errors
scale points
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Response Types

Rating
Ratingscale
scale

Ranking
Rankingscale
scale

Categorization
Categorization

Sorting
Sorting
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Number of Dimensions

Unidimensional

Multi-dimensional
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Balanced or Unbalanced

How good an actress is Angelina Jolie?

 Very bad  Poor

 Bad  Fair
 Neither good nor bad  Good
 Good  Very good
 Very good  Excellent
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Forced or Unforced Choices

How good an actress is Angelina Jolie?

 Very bad  Very bad

 Bad  Bad
 Neither good nor bad  Neither good nor bad
 Good  Good
 Very good  Very good
 No opinion
 Don’t know
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Number of Scale Points

How good an actress is Angelina Jolie?

 Very bad  Very bad
 Bad  Somewhat bad
 Neither good nor bad  A little bad
 Good  Neither good nor bad
 Very good  A little good
 Somewhat good
 Very good
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Rater Errors

•Adjust strength of
descriptive adjectives
•Space intermediate
Error of descriptive phrases
central tendency farther apart
•Provide smaller
Error of leniency differences
in meaning between
steps near the
ends of the scale
•Use more scale points
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Rater Errors

•Reverse order of
Primacy Effect
alternatives periodically
Recency Effect
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Dealing with Halo Effects

• Rate one trait

at a time
• Reveal one trait
Halo Effects
per page
• Reverse anchors
periodically
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Simple Category Scale

I plan to purchase a MindWriter laptop in the

12 months.
 Yes
 No
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Multiple-Choice,
Single-Response Scale

What newspaper do you read most often for financial news?

 East City Gazette
 West City Tribune
 Regional newspaper
 National newspaper
 Other (specify:_____________)
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Multiple-Choice,
Multiple-Response Scale

What sources did you use when designing your new

home? Please check all that apply.
 Online planning services
 Magazines
 Independent contractor/builder
 Designer
 Architect
 Other (specify:_____________)
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Likert Scale

The Internet is superior to traditional libraries for

comprehensive searches.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
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Semantic Differential
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Adapting SD Scales

Convenience of Reaching the Store from Your Location

Nearby ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Distant

Short time required to reach store ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Long time required to reach store

Difficult drive ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Easy Drive

Difficult to find parking place ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Easy to find parking place

Convenient to other stores I shop ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Inconvenient to other stores I shop

Products offered
Wide selection of different Limited selection of different
kinds of products ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: kinds of products
Fully stocked ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Understocked

Undependable products ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Dependable products

High quality ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Low quality

Numerous brands ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Few brands

Unknown brands ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Well-known brands
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SD Scale for Analyzing Actor Candidates

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Graphic of SD Analysis
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Numerical Scale
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Multiple Rating List Scales

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Stapel Scales
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Constant-Sum Scales
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Graphic Rating Scales

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Ranking Scales

• Paired-comparison
scale
• Forced ranking scale
• Comparative scale
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Paired-Comparison Scale
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Forced Ranking Scale

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Comparative Scale
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Sorting
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MindWriter Scaling

Likert Scale
The problem that prompted service/repair was resolved

Strongly Neither Agree Strongly

Disagree Disagree Nor Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4 5

Numerical Scale (MindWriter’s Favorite)

To what extent are you satisfied that the problem that prompted service/repair was resolved?

Very Very
Dissatisfied Satisfied

1 2 3 4 5

Hybrid Expectation Scale

Resolution of the problem that prompted service/repair.

Met Few Met Some Met Most Met All Exceeded

Expectations Expectations Expectations Expectations Expectations
1 2 3 4 5
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Ideal Scalogram Pattern

Item

2 4 1 3
Participant
Score

X X X X 4
__ X X X 3
__ __ X X 2
__ __ __ X 1
__ __ __ __ 0

* X = agree; __ = disagree.
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Key Terms
• Attitude • Forced-choice rating
• Balanced rating scale scale
• Categorization • Forced ranking scale
• Comparative scale • Graphic rating scale
• Constant-sum scale • Halo effect
• Cumulative scale • Item analysis
• Error of central • Likert scale
tendency • Multidimensional scale
• Error of leniency
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Key Terms

• Multiple-choice, • Q-sort
multiple-response • Ranking scale
scale • Rating scale
• Multiple-choice, single- • Scaling
response scale
• Scalogram analysis
• Multiple rating list
• Semantic differential
• Numerical scale
• Simple category scale
• Paired-comparison
scale
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Key Terms

• Sorting • Unbalanced rating scale

• Stapel scale • Unforced-choice rating
• Summated rating scale scale
• Unidimensional scale