Measurement and Scaling

- Sharmila Regmi
 Measurement and Scaling

•  
• Measurement means assigning numbers or other
symbols to characteristics of objects according to
certain pre-specified rules.
• One-to-one correspondence between the
numbers and the characteristics being measured.
• The rules for assigning numbers should be
standardized and applied uniformly.
• Rules must not change over objects or time
 Scaling

• Scaling involves creating a continuum upon which

measured objects are located.
•  Consider an attitude scale from 1 to 100.Each
respondent is assigned a number from 1 to 100,
with 1 = Extremely Unfavorable, and 100 =
Extremely Favorable. Measurement is the actual
assignment of a number from 1 to 100 to each
respondent. Scaling is the process of placing the
respondents on a continuum with respect to their
attitude toward department stores.
Scales of Measurement
 Nominal Scale

• The numbers serve only as labels or tags for identifying and

• classifying objects.
• When used for identification, there is a strict one-to-one
correspondence between the numbers and the objects.
• The numbers do not reflect the amount of the characteristic
possessed by the objects.
• The only permissible operation on the numbers in a
nominal scale is counting.
• Only a limited number of statistics, all of which are based
on frequency counts, are permissible, e.g., percentages,
and mode.
 Ordinal Scale
• A ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to objects
to indicate the relative extent to which the objects possess
some characteristic.
• Can determine whether an object has more or less of a
characteristic than some other object, but not how much
more or less.
• Any series of numbers can be assigned that preserves
the ordered relationships between the objects.
• In addition to the counting operation allowable for
nominal scale data, ordinal scales permit the use
of statistics based on centiles, e.g., percentile,
quartile, median.
 Interval Scale
• Numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal
• values in the characteristic being measured.
• It permits comparison of the differences between objects.
• The location of the zero point is not fixed. Both the zero point and
the units of measurement are arbitrary.
• Any positive linear transformation of the form y = a + bx will
preserve the properties of the scale.
• It is not meaningful to take ratios of scale values.
• Statistical techniques that may be used include all of
those that can be applied to nominal and ordinal data,
and in addition the arithmetic mean, standard
deviation, and other statistics commonly used in
marketing research
 Ratio Scale
• Possesses all the properties of the nominal, ordinal,
and
• interval scales.
• It has an absolute zero point.
• It is meaningful to compute ratios of scale values.
• Only proportionate transformations of the form
y = bx, where b is a positive constant, are
allowed.
• All statistical techniques can be applied to
ratio data
• Scale summary
S c a le B a s ic Com m on M a r k e tin g P e r m is s ib le S ta tis tic s
C h a r a c te r is tic s E x a m p le s E x a m p le s D e s c r ip t iv e In fe r e n tia l
N o m in a l N u m b e r s i d e n t if y S o c ia l S e c u r it y B ra n d n o s ., s to re P e r c e n ta g e s , C h i- s q u a r e ,
& c la s s ify o b je c ts n o s ., n u m b e r in g ty p e s m ode b in o m ia l t e s t
o f f o o t b a ll p la y e r s
O r d in a l N o s . i n d ic a t e t h e Q u a l it y r a n k i n g s , P re fe re n c e P e r c e n tile , R a n k -o rd e r
r e la t iv e p o s i t io n s r a n k in g s o f t e a m s r a n k in g s , m a r k e t m e d ia n c o r r e la t i o n ,
o f o b je c t s b u t n o t in a to u r n a m e n t p o s it i o n , s o c i a l F r ie d m a n
t h e m a g n it u d e o f c la s s ANOVA
d if f e r e n c e s
b e tw e e n th e m
In te r v a l D if f e r e n c e s T e m p e ra tu re A tt it u d e s , Range, m ean, P ro d u c t-
b e t w e e n o b je c t s ( F a h r e n h e it) o p in io n s , in d e x s ta n d a r d m om ent
R a tio Z e r o p o in t is f ix e d , L e n g t h , w e i g h t A g e , s a le s , G e o m e tr ic C o e f f ic ie n t o f
r a tio s o f s c a le in c o m e , c o s t s m e a n , h a r m o n ic v a r ia tio n
v a lu e s c a n b e m ean
c o m p a re d
 Continuous Rating Scale
Respondents rate the objects by placing a mark at the appropriate position
on a line that runs from one extreme of the criterion variable to the other.
The form of the continuous scale may vary considerably.

How would you rate Sears as a department store?

Version 1
Probably the worst - - - - - - -I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Probably the best

Version 2
Probably the worst - - - - - - -I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --Probably the best
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Version 3
Very bad Neither good Very good
nor bad
Probably the worst - - - - - - -I - - - - - - -
----- - - - - - - - - ---Probably the best
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 Likert Scale
• The Likert scale is a kind of rating scale. It requires the respondents to
indicate a degree of agreement or disagreement with each of a series of
statements about the stimulus objects. Ex:
Example of Likert Scale
Thank You