MEASUREMENT AND SCALING

100.Measurement can be defined as a standardized process of assigning numbers or other

symbols to certain characteristics of the objects of interest.
101.There are four levels of measurement, namely; nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio.

102.Nominal level of measurement is the lowest and most simple level of measurement.
103. When a variable is classified into several nominal subclasses it is said that the variable in
question is measured on a nominal level. For example, the variable, sex, has two nominal
subclasses, male and female.
104.Nominal scale possesses only the characteristic of description.

105.Ordinal Scale: When the relative positions of objects or persons with respect to some
characteristics are defined, measurements are possible on ordinal levels.
106.The fundamental requirement of an ordinal level of measurement is that one be able to
determine the order of positions of objects or persons in terms of characteristics under
study.
107.Ordinal level measurements are considered of high level than nominal level because in
addition to being mutually exclusive (feature of nominal level of measurement) the
categories have a fixed order.
108.Level of education, for example, constitutes an ordinal variable and measures levels of
education on ordinal scales. 1. Graduate 2. Intermediate 3. High School 4. Middle School
5. Primary 6. Illiterate
109.Interval Level of Measurement: Interval level between the categories of measurement
have equal spacing in addition to the characteristics of nominal level (mutually exclusive)
and ordinal level (having fixed order).

110.In interval measures the positions are not only ordered either in ascending order (lower,
middle and higher) or in descending order (higher, middle and lower) but the intervals of
measurement are also equal.
111.The examples of true interval scales are Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales.
112.Interval Scale has an arbitrary zero.
113.Ratio scale: It has an absolute zero. For example, income can be measured at ratio level
of measurement because it has an absolute zero (no income, at least in money terms, not
in term of economic status).
114.Ratio scale is the most powerful scale of measurement.

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115.A lower order scale may not possess the properties of a higher order scale. But a higher
order scale always possesses the properties of a lower order scale.

116.Any type of phenomenon or event using specific rules to represent quantities and
qualities of the factors being investigated consists of construct development and scale
measurement.

117.The goal of scale measurement is to determine how to precisely measure each construct.
118.A construct is any tangible item in a person’s environment that can be clearly and easily
indentified through the senses.
119.Scaling is the process of creating a continuum on which objects are located according to
the amount of the measured characteristic they possess.

120.Scale development is designing questions to measure the subjective properties of an

object.
121.The characteristics of a scale determine the scale’s level of measurement. They can be
description, order, distance and origin.
122.Description refers to use of a label.
123.Order refers to the relative sizes used as scale points
124.Order identifies only the relative differences between the responses and not the
absolute differences.
125.A scale is said to have a characteristic of origin if there is a unique beginning or true zero
point for the scale.
Scaling techniques: Comparative Scales and Non Comparative Scales.
126.Comparative scales involve the direct comparison of stimulus object. It is a scale format
that requires a judgment comparing one object, person, or concept against another on the
scale
127.Comparative scale data must be interpreted in relative terms and have only ordinal or
rank order properties.
128.Comparative scaling is referred to as non-metric scaling.

129.Non-comparative scales refer to a scale format that requires judgment without reference
to another object, person, or concept.
130.The resulting data are generally assumed to be interval or ratio scaled.

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131.Types of comparative scales: paired comparison, rank order, constant sum, q-sort
and other procedures.
132.Types of non-comparative scales: continuous rating scales and itemized rating scales.
133.Likert scale, Semantic differential scale, Stapel scale and Thurstone scale are the
different types of itemized rating scales.
134.Semantic differential scale: a unique bipolar ordinal scale format that captures a
person’s attitudes or feelings about a given object.
135.This type of scale is unique in its use of bipolar adjectives and adverbs (good/bad,
like/dislike, competitive/noncompetitive, helpful/unhelpful, etc.)
136.In semantic differential scale, the respondents are asked to express their feelings about
whatever being evaluated by recording their responses on a scale of adjectives (such as
strong -- mild) which are paired polar opposites.
137.This scale type i0s best for identifying a “perceptual image profile” about the object or
behavior of concern.
138.Individual items on a semantic differential scale may be scored on either a +3 to - 3 or a 1
to 7 scale.
139.Likert scale: an ordinal scale format that asks the respondents to indicate the extent to
which they agree or disagree with a series of mental belief or behavioral belief statements
about a given object.
140.This scale was developed by Rensis Likert and is widely used rating scale.
141.In the Likert scale, the matter of choosing opposite adjectives is avoided rather, it makes
a statement or poses one description (or adjective) for whatever is being evaluated.
142.The respondent is then given a scale whose position range from “strongly agree” to
“strongly disagree”.
143.They are also called summated scales because the scores on the individual items are
summed to produce a total score for the respondent.
144.A Likert scale usually consists of two parts: item part and evaluative part.
145.The item part is essentially a statement about a certain product event or attitude.
146.The evaluative part is a list of response categories ranging from “strongly agree” to
“strongly disagree”.

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147.Stapel scale: The Stapel scale is a simplification of the semantic differential developed
by Jan Stape.

148.It is a unipolar scale with 10 categories numbered from - 5 to +5, without a neutral point
(zero) with values progressions ranging from positive to negative which measure direction
and intensity simultaneously.
149.It is usually presented vertically.
150.The main virtue of this scale is that it is easy to administer and construct because there is
no need to provide adjectives or phrases to assure bi-polarity.