Chapter 7 Measurement in Management and Scaling Techniques

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved
© Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T), 2012 7– 1

PART 3
CHAPTER 7
Measurement in Management
and Scaling Techniques

LEARNING OUTCOMES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

 Understand the four basic measurement techniques in
business research
 Learn different measurement scales under comparative
and non-comparative scaling techniques.
 Select the correct measurement scales for different
types of statements in the questionnaire
 Undertake a number of practical decisions into account
while developing the scale for questions

LEARNING OUTCOMES
(cont.)
 Test the measurement instruments for its degree of

stability, consistency and reliability
 Test the measurement instrument for content
validity, face validity, construct validity and criterion
validity

7.0 Introduction
 Business organizations exist within an environment

that is full of uncertainties.
 There are no ‘magic rules’
 Measurement is fundamental to business decision-
making to achieve business goals
 Measurement consists of two basic processes
called conceptualisation and operationalization
(what and how)

7.1 Basic Measurement
Techniques
The 4 basic measurements of scales are:
 Nominal
 Ordinal
 Interval
 Ratio

Nominal Scale
 Consists of categorizing items into groups

 It is used to indicate categories
 Numbers are only used as labels
 It has no numerical significance
 It does not represent any order or distance.
Example of nominal scale:
Gender Code
Male 1
Female 2

Ordinal Scale
The main characteristic of the ordinal scale is that

the categories have a logical or ordered relationship
(rank) to each other. Example of an ordinal scale:
Attributes Ranking Ranking (R1)
Popularity ___ 5
Brand Name ___ 1
Image ___ 3
Current Trends ___ 2
Availability ___ 4

Interval Scale
Example of an interval scale:

Ratio Scale
Possesses all the properties of nominal, ordinal

and interval scale, and in addition, an absolute
zero point.

7.2 Advanced Measurement
Techniques
Can be classified into 2 categories:
 Comparative scales
 Non-comparative scales

7.2 Advanced Measurement
Techniques (cont.)

Comparative Scales
Can be further divided into the following

4 types of scaling techniques:
 Paired comparison scale
 Rank order scale
 Constant sum scale
 Q-sort scale

Paired Comparison Scale
Advantages
 Some special techniques such as multidimensional
scaling require the data to be collected based on
pair comparison
Disadvantages
 Data obtained is ordinal
 If the number of objects (n) is large, there is a high
risk of ill-considered answers or refusal to answer

Differences among basic
measurement scales: an example

Rank Order
Presented with several objects simultaneously and

asked to order or rank them according to some
criterion.

Rank Order (cont.)
Brand Rank
Colgate ___
Close up ___
Pepsodent ___
Plus White ___
Darlie ___
___
Fresh & White

Constant Sum Scaling
Allocates a constant sum of units (usually points)

among a set of stimulus objects with respect to
some criterion.

Constant Sum Scaling (cont.)
Attribute Rsponse (points)

Mildness 12
Lather 11
Shrinkage 7
Price 45
Packaging 4
Moisturizing 8
SUM 100

Q-Sort Scale
 It uses a rank order procedure and the objects are

sorted into piles based on similarity with respect to
some criteria.
 Q-sort technique is an attempt to classify subjects
in terms of their similarity to attributes under study.

7.2.2 Non-Comparative
Scales
The 4 types frequently used are:
 Continuous rating scale
 Likert scale
 Semantic differential scale
 Stapel’s scale

Continuous Rating Scale

Itemized Rating Scale
Likert’s scale
Strongly Neither agree Strongly
Statement Disagree Agree
disagree nor disagree agree
GAINT sells high-quality
1 2 3 4 5
merchandise
GAINT is poor in store
1 2 3 4 5
service
I like to shop at GAINT 1 2 3 4 5
GAINT charges fair price 1 2 3 4 5

I do not like advertising
1 2 3 4 5
done by GAINT
GAINT is where
1 2 3 4 5
Malaysians’ shop

Itemized Rating Scale (cont.)
Semantic differential scale

Stapel’s scale
 Developed by Jan Stapel, is useful for
researchers to understand the positive and
negative intensity of attributes of respondents

Stapel’s scale has distinctive features:

 Each item has only one word/phrase indicating the
dimension it represents.
 Each item has ten response categories.
 Each item has an even number of categories.
 The response categories have numerical labels but
no verbal labels.

Stapel’s scale
Example 7.8: Measuring the attitude of flight passengers
+5 +5 +5
+4 +4 +5
+3 +3 +3
+2 +2 +2
+1 +1 +1
Friendly Cabin Crew Comfortable Interior Accurate Timing
-1 -1 -1
-2 -2 -2
-3 -3 -3
-4 -4 -4
-5 -5 -5
7.2.3 Practical Considerations
 Number of scale categories

 Number of items to measure concept
 Odd or even number of categories

Number of Scale Categories
 To have a 5 point scale, 7 point scale or 10 point

scale
 The larger the number of categories, the greater the
precision of the measurement scale
 The desire for a higher level of precision must be
reasonably balanced with the demands placed on
the respondents

Number of Items to Measure
Concept
 Concepts measured using scales with multiple items
known as multi-item scales
 Multi-item scale consists of a number of closely
related items whose responses are combined into a
composite score
 The general guideline: statements must be closely
related, represent only a single construct and must
completely represent the construct to be measured
 A minimum of 3 items is a must to achieve
acceptable reliability
Odd or Even Number of
Categories
Odd
Strongly Disagree Neither agree Agree Strongly
disagree Nor disagree agree
Even (forced choice)

Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly
disagree agree

Balanced or Unbalanced Scale
Labelling
Balanced
Strongly Disagree Neither agree Agree Strongly
disagree Nor disagree agree

Balanced or Unbalanced Scale
Labelling (cont.)
Unbalanced
Strongly Disagree Sligntly Agree Strongly
disagree Disagree agree

7.3 The Characteristics of Good
Measurement
Sound measurement must meet the tests of

validity, reliability and practicality.

7.3.1 Test of Validity
 Content validity
 Face validity
 Criterion validity
 Construct validity

7.3.2 Test of Reliability
Stability of measures
 Test-retest reliability
 Parallel-form reliability
Internal consistency of measures

 Inter-item consistency reliability
 Split-half reliability

7.3.3 Test of Practicality
 The measuring instrument ought to be economical,

convenient and interpretable
 Some trade-off is needed between ideal research
project and that which the budget can afford
 The measuring instrument in order to be interpretable
must be supplemented by: (a) a detailed instruction
for administrating the test, (b) scoring keys, (c)
evidence about the reliability, and (d) guides for using
the test and for interpreting the results.


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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

© Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T), 2012 7– 1

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

 Test the measurement instruments for its degree of

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

 Business organizations exist within an environment

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

 Consists of categorizing items into groups

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

The main characteristic of the ordinal scale is that

Brand Name ___ 1

Current Trends ___ 2

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Example of an interval scale:

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Possesses all the properties of nominal, ordinal

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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Can be further divided into the following

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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Presented with several objects simultaneously and

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Plus White ___

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Allocates a constant sum of units (usually points)

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Attribute Rsponse (points)

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 It uses a rank order procedure and the objects are

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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

I like to shop at GAINT 1 2 3 4 5

GAINT charges fair price 1 2 3 4 5

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Semantic differential scale

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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Stapel’s scale has distinctive features:

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

 Number of scale categories

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 To have a 5 point scale, 7 point scale or 10 point

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Even (forced choice)

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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Sound measurement must meet the tests of

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Business Research Methods All Rights Reserved

Internal consistency of measures

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 The measuring instrument ought to be economical,

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