CHAPTER V

RESEARCH DESIGN

5.1. MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN

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5.2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS CONCERNING RESEARCH DESIGN

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5.3. FEATURES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

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5.4. FORMS/TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

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5.5. CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH DESIGN

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SCALES OF MEASUREMENT

The field of statistics deals with measurements—some quantitative and others qualitative. The
measurements are the actual numerical values of a variable. (Qualitative variables could be
described by numbers, although such a description might be arbitrary; for example, N = 1, E = 2,

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S = 3, W = 4, Y = 1, N = 0.). The four generally used scales of measurement are listed here
from weakest to strongest.

1. Nominal scale (data):

It is the simplest type of data, in which the values fall into unordered categories or classes. It
consists of “naming” observations or classifying them into various mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive categories. It uses names, labels, or symbols to assign each
measurement.

Examples: Blood type, sex, race, marital status, etc.

Example of nominal Scale:

Race/Ethnicity:

1. Black 3. Latino
2. White 4. Other

The numbers have NO meaning. They are labels only. If nominal data can take on only two
possible values, they are called dichotomous or binary. So sex, it is dichotomous (male or
female). Yes/no questions. Nominal Scale. In the nominal scale of measurement, numbers are
used simply as labels for groups or classes. If our data set consists of blue, green, and red items,
we may designate blue as 1, green as 2, and red as 3. In this case, the numbers 1, 2, and 3 stand
only for the category to which a data point belongs. “Nominal” stands for “name” of category.
The nominal scale of measurement is used for qualitative rather than quantitative data: blue,
green, red; male, female; professional classification; geographic classification; and so on.

2. Ordinal scale (data):

It assigns each measurement to one of a limited number of categories that are ranked in terms
of order. Although non-numerical, it can be considered to have a natural ordering. Examples:
Patient status, cancer stages, social class, etc.

E.g. economic condition of society:

1. Lower level 2. Middle level

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 3. Upper level

Ordinal Scale. In the ordinal scale of measurement, data elements may be ordered according to
their relative size or quality. Four products ranked by a consumer may be ranked as 1, 2, 3, and
4, where 4 is the best and 1 is the worst. In this scale of measurement we do not know how much
better one product is than others, only that it is better.

3. Interval scale (data):

Measured on a continuum and differences between any two numbers on a scale are of known
size. Example: Temp. in oF on 4 consecutive days

Days: 1 2 3 4

Temp. oF: 50 55 60 65

For these data, not only is day 1 with 50o cooler than day 4 with 65o, but is 15o cooler.

Interval Scale. In the interval scale of measurement the value of zero is assigned arbitrarily and
therefore we cannot take ratios of two measurements. But we can take ratios of intervals. A good
example is how we measure time of day, which is in an interval scale. We cannot say 10:00 A.M.
is twice as long as 5:00 A.M. But we can say that the interval between 0:00 A.M. (midnight) and
10:00 A.M., which is a duration of 10 hours, is twice as long as the interval between 0:00 A.M.
and 5:00 A.M., which is a duration of 5 hours. This is because 0:00 A.M. does not mean absence
of any time. Another example is temperature. When we say 0°F, we do not mean zero heat. A
temperature of 100°F is not twice as hot as 50°F.

4. Ratio scale (data):

Measurement begins at a true zero point and the scale has equal space. Examples: Height, age,
weight, etc.

Note on meaningfulness of “ratio”. Someone who weighs 80 kg is two times as heavy as

someone else who weighs 40 kg. This is true even if weight had been measured in other
measurements.

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Ratio Scale. If two measurements are in ratio scale, then we can take ratios of those
measurements. The zero in this scale is an absolute zero. Money, for example, is measured in a
ratio scale. A sum of $100 is twice as large as $50. A sum of $0 means absence of any money
and is thus an absolute zero. We have already seen that measurement of duration (but not time of
day) is in a ratio scale. In general, the interval between two interval scale measurements will be
in ratio scale. Other examples of the ratio scale are measurements of weight, volume, area, or
length.

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