UNIT-II

SCALES AND MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES

INTRODUCTION
A SCALE IS A TOOL OR MECHANISM BY WHIC H INDIVIDUALS ARE DISTINGUISHED AS TO HOW THEY DIFFER FROM ONE ANOTHER ON THE VARIABLES OF INTEREST TO THE STUDY. THE SCALE OR TOOL COULD BE A GROSS ONE IN THE SENSE THAT IT WOULD ONLY BROADLY CATEGORISED INDIVIDUALS ON CERTAIN VARIABLES, OR IT COULD BE A FIND-TUNED TOOL THAT WOULD DIFFERENTIATE INDIVIDUALS ON THE VARIABLES WITH VARYIG DEGREES OF SOPHISTICATION.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCALES

NOMINAL SCALE
A NOMINAL SCALE IS ONE THAT ALLOWS THE RESEARCHER TO ASSIGN SUBJECTS TO CERTAIN CATEGORIES OR GROUPS. EXAMPLE WITH RESPECT TO VARIABLES OF GENDER, RESPONDENTS CAN BE GROUPED INTO MALE &FEMALE

ORDINAL SCALE
THIS SCALE CATEGORISES THE VARIABLES IN SUCH A WAY AS TO DENOTE DIFFERENCES AMONG THE VARIOUS CATEGORISES, IT ALSO RANK-ORDERS THE CATEGORISES IN SOME MEANINGFUL WAY. THE PREFERENCES WOULD BE RANKED AND NUBERED 1, 2 AND SO ON, FROM BEST TO WORST, FIRST TO LAST.

JOB NATURE-FOR MR.X&MR.Y

CHALLENGING INTERACTIVE HEAVY TRAVEL TARGET BASED SKILL ORIENTED 2 1 3 5 4 CHALLENGING INTERACTIVE HEAVY TRAVEL TARGET BASED SKILL ORIENTED 1 3 2 4 5

INTERVAL SCALE
THIS SCALE ALLOW TO PERFORM CERTAIN ARITHMETICAL OPERATIONS ON THE DATA COLLECTED FROM THE SAMPLES. IT HELPS US TO CALCULATE MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATIONS. CORRELATION, REGRESSION, ETC.

RATIO SCALE
THIS SCALE MEASWURES THE MAGNITUDE OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POINTS ON THE SCALE AND ALSO TAPS THE PROPORTIONS IN THE DIFFERENCE. IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL OF THE 4 SCALES BECAUSE OF ITS ZERO ORIGIN. EXAMPLE WEIGHING BALANCE

SCALING
SCALING DESCRIBES THE PROCEDURES OF ASSINGNING NUMBERS TO VARIOUS DEGREES OF OPINION ATTITUDE VIEWS OTHER CONCEPTS

THIS CAN BE DONE BY MAKING A JUDGEMENT ABOUT SOME CHARACTER OF AN INDIVIDUAL AND THEN PLACING HIM DIRECTLY ON A SCALE THAT HAS BEN DEFINED OR CONSTRUCTING QUESTIONNAIRES IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE SCORE OF INDIVIDUALS RESPONSES ASSIGNS HIM A PLACE ON THE SCALE

IMPORTANT SCALING TECHNIQUES

NUMERI CAL

LIKERT

ITEMISE D RATING

CATEGOR Y

GRAPHIC

RATING SCALE
DICHOTO MOUS CONSENS US

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTI AL

STAPLE
FIXED OR CONSTANT SUM

DICHOTOMOUS SCALE
DO YOU OWN A CAR? ---YES OR NO

CATEGORY SCALE
WHERE YOU ARE LIVING? CITY VILLAGE BEACH HILL OTHERS

LIKERT SCALE
THIS IS DESIGNED TO EXAMINE HOW STRONGLY SUBJECTS AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH STATEENTS ON A 5 POINT SCALE STRONGLY AGREE-1 DISAGREE-2 NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE-3 AGREE-4 STRONGLY AGREE-5

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIALSCALE
RESPONSIVE----------UNRESPONSIVE BEAUTIFUL------------UGLY COURAGEOUS--------TIMID

NUMERICAL SCALE
HOW PLEASED YOU ARE WITH THE NEW MARRIED LIFE EXTREMELY 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 EXTREMELY PLEASED DISPLEASED

ITEMISED RATING SCALE

1-VERY UNLIKELY, 2-UNLIKELY, 3-NEITHER UNLIKELY NOR LIKELY, 4-LIKELY, 5- VERY LIKELY 1. I WILL CHANGE MY RESIDENCE 2. I WILL TAKE UP NEW JOBS 3. CAN YOU GO FOR MERGERS SOON

FIXED OR CONSTANT SUM SCALE

THE RESPONDENTS ARE ASKED TO DISTRIBUTE A GIVEN NUMBER OF POINTS ACROSS VARIOUS ITEMS AS GIVEN IN THE EXAMPLE FOR A TOILET SOAP FRAGRANCE 20 COLOUR 20 LATHER 20 SHAPE 20 SIZE 20 TOTAL 100

STAPLE SCALE
THIS SCALE SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURES BOTHE THE DIRECTION AND INTENSITY OF THE ATTIDUDE TOWARDS THE ITEMS UNDER STUDY

EXAMPLE STATE HOW YOU WOULD RATE YOUR SUPERIORS ABILITIES WITH RESPECT TO THE FOLLOWING CHARACTER +3 +2 +1 PRODUCT INNOVATION -1 -2 -3

GRAPHIC RATING SCALE

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10 HOW WOULD RATE YOUR BOSS 10 5 1

CONSENSUS SCALE
SCALE ALSO DEVELOPED BY CONSENSUS, WHERE A PANEL OF JUDGES SELECTS CERTAIN ITEMS, WHICH IN ITS VIEW MEASURES THE RELEVENT CONCEPTS. THE ITEMS ARE CHOSEN BASED ON THEIR RELEVENCE TO THE CONCEPT, SUCH SCALE IS DEVELOPED AFTER THE SELECTED ITEMS ARE EXAMINED AND TESTED FOR THEIR VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY.

2. RANKING SCALES
THEY ARE USED TO TAP PREFERENCES BETWEEN TWO OR AMONG MORE OBECTS OT ITEMS. THEY ARE CLASSIFIED INTO PAIRED COMPARISON FORCED CHOICE COMPARATIVE SCALE