NAME OF STUDENT – PRAKASH KUMAR

Reg No. – 22-1002

Roll No. – MM2022258
Specialization – Operation and Supply Chain Management
Batch – 2020-2022
Institute – Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM)
Semester – 1ST
Subject Name – Research Methodology
Assignment No. - 02
Submission Date – 09/01/2021
Total no. of page written - 8
Q1. Why are scales needed? Design one question which shows application of
(a) Ranking scale,
(b) Semantic differential scale
(c) Likert scale
Answer –

Scales of measurement refers to the various measures used in quantifying the variables
researchers use in performing data analysis. They are an important aspect of research and
statistics because the level of data measurement is what determines the data analysis
technique to be used.

Understanding the concept of scales of measurements is a prerequisite to working with data

and performing statistical analysis. The different measurement scales have some similar
properties and are therefore important to properly analyse the data to determine its
measurement scale before choosing a technique to use for analysis.

A number of scaling techniques are available for the measurement of the same measurement
scale. Therefore, there is no unique way of selecting a scaling technique for research
purposes.

Ranking Scale
Ranking scales have a different approach to collecting data, asking respondents to compare
objects with each other instead of rating them on a common scale. For example, if someone
wants to know which brand is trending in the telecome industry, then we can ask the
respondent to rank the service provider according to their network availability and recharge
plans. By getting the result we can make decision according to that. It allows customers to put
more emphasis on one object over another. However, there may be different things that
customers value equally. The ranking does not show that data. Ranking is the best way to
pose our query if we are trying to decide how those items relate to each other. Rather than
simply calculating the amount of satisfaction of a single item for a customer, ranking helps
you to see the unique value of several different items together.
Example – We want to know which bank is giving better service to customer in other word
we want to know most preferred bank by the customer. We can ask respondent to rate the
following banks in the term of services provided by them.
State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank etc
Semantic differential scale
It is unique bipolar ordinal scale format that capture a person’s attitude or feeling’s about a
given object. In this, the respondents are asked to express their feeling’s about whatever
being evaluated by recording their response on a scale of adjective, which are paired
opposite. This scale type is best for identifying a perceptual image profile about the object or
behaviour of concern. It is widely used in comparing brands, products, company images, new
product development studies etc. It is widely used in 1 to 7 scale. It may be +3 to 3 scale
depending on the situation to situation.
Example –
Select the suitable point (1-7) to view the store “Pantaloons” in various aspects -
Weak 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Powerful
Unreliable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Reliable
Old fashion 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Modern
Likert scale
It is an ordinal scale formal that ask the respondent to indicate the extent to which they agree
or disagree with a series of mental belief or behavioural belief statement about a given object.
It is usually consists of two part i.e., item part and evaluation part. The item part is essentially
a statement about certain product, event and attitude. The evaluation part is a list of response
category ranging from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”. It is 5-point scale.
Example – Online Education is more effective learning than Offline learning (Physical mode)
Strongly Agree 12345 Strongly Disagree
Q2 Design a questionnaire using various scales (N/O/I/R) for conducting a survey of
customer satisfaction for a supermarket chain.
Answer –
Nominal Scale
1) Name - _______________________

2) Gender -
 Male  Female

Ordinal Scale
3) Rank the following department on availability of variety of products
Household, Kids, Fashion, Beauty section
Interval Scale
4) Rate the following attributes of Supermarket chain (1 – being least and 7 - being the
most)
No
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Many
Variety for Customer Variety
Variety

Customer
Least Most
Engagement
Effective Very
Poor
Good
Communication

Poor Very
Discipline in Staff Good

Ratio Scale
5) Please Rate (out of 10), how much you are satisfied with the supermarket chain

_______________________
Q3 Give overview of various Primary data collection methods using Structured /
Unstructured, Direct/Indirect Format.
Answer –

STRUCTURED UN-STRUCTURED

UNDISGUISED Open ended question to discover

Straightforward Structured Questions
(DIRECT) “New Answers”

DISGUISED Survey Questions to measure a Brand’s Projection technique, used mostly for
(IN-DIRECT) image w.r.t. to competitors exploratory research

The Primary data collection methods are as follows -

 Structured un-disguised – It consist of a formal list of questions that is asked to the
audience in order to collect the related facts. The interviewer asks the questions strictly
according to the prescribed format. The questions are arranged in a pre-decided format and
the respondents are aware of the objective for which the enquiry is being done.
 Structured Disguised– In this type of questionnaire, the objective behind the enquiry is not
known to the respondents.
 Un-structured and Un-disguised– In this type of questionnaire the questions are not
arranged in a pre-defined format and there is no particular order in which the questions are
asked to the respondents. This type of questionnaire is mostly used in exploratory research
where only some respondents are contacted with. Here the objective behind the
questionnaire is revealed to the respondents.
 Un-structured disguised– In this type of questionnaire the questions are not structured and
the objective is also not revealed to the respondents. The main reason behind the
formulation of the questionnaire is the collection of the information. There are different
types of information that can be collected, they are as follows – Facts, Awareness
generating information, Quasi facts, Opinions on issues, Future plans and Reasons.
Q4 Write short notes on the following:
(a) Content Validity
(b) Construct Validity
(c) Criterion related Validity
(d) Reliability Vs. Validity
(e) Types of reliability
Answer –
a) Content validity assesses whether a test is representative of all aspects of the construct. To
produce valid results, the content of a test, survey or measurement method must cover all
relevant parts of the subject it aims to measure. If some aspects are missing from the
measurement (or if irrelevant aspects are included), the validity is threatened. For
example, A mathematics teacher develops an end-of-semester algebra test for her class.
The test should cover every form of algebra that was taught in the class. If some types of
algebra are left out, then the results may not be an accurate indication of students’
understanding of the subject. Similarly, if she includes questions that are not related to
algebra, the results are no longer a valid measure of algebra knowledge.

b) Construct validity evaluates whether a measurement tool really represents the thing we are
interested in measuring. It’s central to establishing the overall validity of a method.
Construct validity is about ensuring that the method of measurement matches the construct
you want to measure. If you develop a questionnaire to diagnose depression, you need to
know: does the questionnaire really measure the construct of depression? Or is it actually
measuring the respondent’s mood, self-esteem, or some other construct? To achieve
construct validity, you have to ensure that your indicators and measurements are carefully
developed based on relevant existing knowledge. The questionnaire must include only
relevant questions that measure known indicators of depression. The other types of
validity described below can all be considered as forms of evidence for construct validity.

c) Criterion validity evaluates how closely the results of your test correspond to the results of
a different test. To evaluate criterion validity, you calculate the correlation between the
results of your measurement and the results of the criterion measurement. If there is a high
correlation, this gives a good indication that your test is measuring what it intends to
measure. For example, a university professor creates a new test to measure applicants’
English writing ability. To assess how well the test really does measure students’ writing
ability, she finds an existing test that is considered a valid measurement of English writing
ability, and compares the results when the same group of students take both tests. If the
outcomes are very similar, the new test has a high criterion validity.

d) Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. Psychologists consider three types of

consistency: over time (test-retest reliability), across items (internal consistency), and
across different researchers. For example, a medical thermometer is a reliable tool that
 would measure the correct temperature each time it is used. In the same way, a reliable
math test will accurately measure mathematical knowledge for every student who takes it
and reliable research findings can be replicated over and over.

Validity is the extent to which the scores from a measure represent the variable they are
intended to. The reliability and validity of a measure is not established by any single study
but by the pattern of results across multiple studies. While reliability is necessary, it alone
is not sufficient. For a test to be reliable, it also needs to be valid. For example, if your
scale is off by 5 lbs, it reads your weight every day with an excess of 5lbs. The scale is
reliable because it consistently reports the same weight every day, but it is not valid
because it adds 5lbs to your true weight. It is not a valid measure of your weight. The
assessment of reliability and validity is an ongoing process

e) Type of reliability test are as follows -

Test-retest reliability measures the consistency of results when you repeat the same test on
the same sample at a different point in time. You use it when you are measuring something
that you expect to stay constant in your sample. Test-retest reliability can be used to assess
how well a method resists these factors over time. The smaller the difference between the
two sets of results, the higher the test-retest reliability.
Parallel forms reliability measures the correlation between two equivalent versions of a
test. You use it when you have two different assessment tools or sets of questions designed
to measure the same thing. If you want to use multiple different versions of a test (for
example, to avoid respondents repeating the same answers from memory), you first need
to make sure that all the sets of questions or measurements give reliable results.
Internal consistency reliability assesses the correlation between multiple items in a test
that are intended to measure the same construct. When we devise a set of questions or
ratings that will be combined into an overall score, you have to make sure that all of the
items really do reflect the same thing. If responses to different items contradict one
another, the test might be unreliable. Average inter-item correlation: For a set of measures
designed to assess the same construct, you calculate the correlation between the results of
all possible pairs of items and then calculate the average. Split-half reliability: You
randomly split a set of measures into two sets. After testing the entire set on the
respondents, you calculate the correlation between the two sets of responses.
 Q5 A researcher wishes to compare two hotels on the following attributes:
Convenience of location
Friendly personnel
Value for money
(a) Design a Likert scale to accomplish this task.
(b) Design a semantic differential scale to accomplish this task.
(c) Design a graphic rating scale to accomplish this task.
Answer –
a) Likert scale

Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly

Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
How much do you agree that
Hotel A’s location is
convenient than Hotel B.
How much would you prefer
Hotel A’s staff over Hotel B as
per their friendliness?
How much do you agree that
Hotel A serves more value for
money than Hotel B.

b) Semantic differential scale - Rate the following attributes of (1 – being least and 7 - being the
most)

How convenient is Least Most

Hotel A’s location Convenient Convenient
than Hotel B.
How friendly is Least Most
Hotel A’s staff than
Friendly Friendly
Hotel B?
Is value for money Least Most
served by Hotel A
Valuable Valuable
more than Hotel B.
c) Graphic Rating Scale

i) How much satisfied you were with the convenient of Hotel A over Hotel B.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

ii) How much staff were friendly of Hotel A over Hotel B.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

iii)
How

satisfied you were with the value of money served by Hotel A than Hotel B.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100