Types of Measurement

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 THE MEASUREMENT PROCESS
• How you measure your variables
• Two definitions
– Stevens (1946)—”assignment of numerals to
objects or events according to rules.”
– “…the assignment of values to outcomes.”
– The way you measure the variables in your
study determines whether you study is
qualitative or quantitative in nature
 LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT

Level of
For example Quality of Level
Measurement
Ratio Rachael is 5’ 10” and Gregory is 5’ 5” Absolute zero
Interval Rachael is 5” taller than Gregory An inch is an inch
Ordinal Rachael is taller than Gregory Greater than
Nominal Rachael is tall and Gregory is short Different from

• Variables are measured at one of these four levels

• Qualities of one level are characteristic of the next level
up
• The more precise (higher) the level of measurement, the
more accurate is the measurement process
 NOMINAL SCALE
• Nominal measurement consists of assigning items to
groups or categories.
• No quantitative information is conveyed and no ordering
of the items is implied.
• Religious preference, race, and sex are all examples of
nominal scales.
• Frequency distributions are usually used to analyze data
measured on a nominal scale.
• The main statistic computed is the mode.
• Variables measured on a nominal scale are often referred
to as categorical or qualitative variables.
 NOMINAL SCALE

Qualities Example What You What You Can’t

Can Say Say

Assignment of Gender— Each An observation

labels (male or observation represents
female) belongs in its “more” or “less”
Preference— own category than another
(like or dislike) observation
Voting record—
(for or
against)
Simple answer-
(Yes or No)
 ORDINAL SCALE

• Measurements with ordinal scales are ordered in the sense that

higher numbers represent higher values. However, the intervals
between the numbers are not necessarily equal.

• For example, on a five-point rating scale measuring attitudes

toward an issue, the difference between a rating of 2 and a rating
of 3 may not represent the same difference as the difference
between a rating of 4 and a rating of 5.
 ORDINAL SCALE

Qualities Example What You What You Can’t

Can Say Say

Assignment of -Rank in college One The amount that

values along Order of finishing observation is one variable is
some underlying a race ranked above more or less than
dimension -Likert scale or below another
another.
 INTERVAL SCALE
• On interval measurement scales, one unit on
the scale represents the same magnitude on
the trait or characteristic being measured
across the whole range of the scale.

• A good example of an interval scale is the

Fahrenheit scale for temperature. Equal
differences on this scale represent equal
differences in temperature, but a
temperature of 30 degrees is not twice as
warm as one of 15 degrees.
 INTERVAL SCALE

Qualities Example What You What You Can’t

Can Say Say

Equal distances Number of words One score The amount of

between points spelled correctly differs from difference is an
Intelligence test another on exact
scores some representation of
Temperature measure that differences on
(freezing and has equally the variable
boiling point) appearing being studied
intervals
 RATIO SCALE
• Ratio scales are the most sophisticated of scales, since it
incorporates all the characteristics of nominal, ordinal
and interval scales
• This scale helps in determining the magnitude of differences
but also facilitates to find the ratio between the differences of
points.
• It is best tool among the four scales because it uses the zero
origin and include all the characteristics of remaining three
scales.
• The weighting balance is a good example of a ratio scale. It
has an absolute zero origin calibrated on it, which allows us
to calculate the ratio of the weights of two individuals. For
instance a person weighing 250 pounds is twice as heavy as
on who weights 125 pounds.
 RATIO SCALE

Qualities Example What You What You Can’t

Can Say Say

Meaningful and Age It is an Not much!

absolute zero Weight absolute
Time scale
• Measurement should be as precise as
possible WHAT IS ALL THE FUSS?
• But—how a variable is measured can
determine the research design?
– Qualitative – mostly descriptive and narrative
statement as the “unit of measurement
– Quantitative – mostly apply one or more of the
four measurement scale
• The choice of measuring a variable is
dependent upon the purpose of the study
and the way researcher want to
communicate the findings with the
Data Collection Methods

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 Sources of Data
• Primary data: information obtained firsthand by the
researcher on the variables of interest for the specific
purpose of the study.

• Examples: individuals, focus groups, panels

• Secondary data: information gathered from sources

already existing.

• Examples: company records or archives, government

publications, industry analyses offered by the media,
web sites, the Internet, and so on.

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Personal/Physical Interview
• Advantages
– Can clarify doubts about questionnaire
– Can pick up non-verbal cues
– Relatively high response/cooperation
– Special visual aids and scoring devises can be used

• Disadvantages
– High costs and time intensive
– Geographical limitations
– Response bias / Confidentiality difficult to be assured
– Some respondents are unwilling to talk to strangers
– Trained interviewers

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Telephone/Online Interview

• Advantages
– Discomfort of face to face is avoided
– Faster / Number of calls per day could be high
– Lower cost

• Disadvantages
– Interview length must be limited
– Low response rate
– No facial expressions

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 Interview Questions

• Structured interview:
– A particular set of predetermined questions
are prepared by the researcher before
interview session.
• Unstructure interview:
– The questions to be asked to the respondents
are not set in advance/before the interview
session.
– The questions asked based from the
respondents answer.
• Semi-structured Interview:
– Combination between structured and
unstructured questions during interview
session
– The researcher prepare questions in advance
and at the same time asking other unprepared
questions during interview session based
from the respondens answer.
– Most commonly used in sosial science.
 Self-administered Questionnaire
• Advantages
– Lowest cost option
– Expanded geographical coverage
– Requires minimal staff
– Perceived as more anonymous

• Disadvantages
– Low response rate in some modes
– No interviewer intervention possible for
clarification
– Cannot be too long or complex
– Incomplete surveys
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Principles of Questionnaire Design.

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Questionnaire Design
• Definition
A questionnaire is a pre-formulated, written set of
questions to which the respondent records his answers

• Steps
1. Determine the content of the questionnaire
2. Determine the form of response
3. Determine the wording of the questions
4. Determine the question sequence
5. Write cover letter

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 1. Questionnaire content
• Framework
Need information for all constructs in
framework

• Measurement: Operationalizing
– Objective construct:
• 1 element/items
=> 1 question
– Subjective construct:
• multiple elements/items
=> multiple questions
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 2. Response format
• Closed vs. Open-ended questions
– Closed questions
• Helps respondents to make quick decisions
• Helps researchers to code
– Open-ended question
• First: unbiased point of view
• Final: additional insights
• Complementary to closed question: for
interpretation purpose

• Cfr. Measurement: Response scales

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 3. Question Wording

• Avoid double-barreled questions

• Avoid ambiguous questions and words

• Use of ordinary words

• Avoid leading or biasing questions

• Social desirability

• Avoid recall depended questions

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Question Wording

• Use positive and negative statements

– Dresdner delivers high quality banking service
Dresdner has poor customer operational support
– Avoid double negatives

• Limit the length of the questions

Rules of thumb:
– < 20 words
– < one full line in print

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 4. Question Sequence

Personal and sensitive data at the end

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
www.wileyeurope.com/college/sekaran 26
 5. Cover Letter

• The cover letter is the introductory page

of the questionnaire

• It includes:
– Identification of the researcher
– Motivation for respondents to fill it in
– Confidentiality
– Thanking of the respondent

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 Structured Observations

• Recording prespecified behavioral

patterns of people, objects and events
in a systematic manner.

• Qualitative or quantitative in nature

• Different types
– Personal observation
(e.g., mystery shopper, pantry audit)
– Electronic observation
(e.g., scanner data, people meter, eye tracking)

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 Guide to Identify the Relevant
Research Instruments
1. Explore the literature on available
questionnaires/instruments that has been developed to
measure the variables
2. Make sure the questionnaires consistent with the
operational definition of the variables under study
(unidimension or multidimension)
3. Determine the psychometric properties of the
questionnaires from the literature (validity, reliability,
long or short version (if any)). Choose the most
established and most recently validated questionnaires
(if any).
4. Might need to made some adjustment on the items and
its scale to make sure the chosen questionnaire is
relevant with the context of the research.
Guide to Write the Research
Instruments in Chapter 3
1. Write down the name (if any) of the questionnaire used in
the study and it’s main researher/s
2. The variable that will be measured
3. Explain the total items (for each dimension or reverse
items if any) and what are the elements being measured
4. The scale that will be used for the items in the
questionnaire
5. The reliability (Cronbach Alpha value) from past researcher
6. Sample of questionnaires (suggest to put in appendix)
 Data Collection Procedure

1. Identify data collection tools/methods

(questionnaire, observation tools, interview
question or other instrument/machine)
2. Asking permission from potential
candidate(organization,group,individual)
3. Distribute or carried out the data collection
tools (one time or more than one time)
4. Time allocation and collecting the data
5. Follow up (to increase response rate)
6. Data disposal after analyse