Scale & Scaling

techniques
A Presentation by: Dimple Pal
Abhishek
Aman Baghel
Abhijay Singh
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Scaling
⊸ Scaling is the branch of measurement that involves the construction of an
instrument that associates qualitative constructs with quantitative metrics

Scales are divided into 2 categories -:

⊸ Unidimensional
⊸ Multidimensional
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UNIDIMENSIONAL
⊸ It is used to describe a specific type of measurement scale
⊸ The unidimensional scale has only one (“uni”) dimension
⊸ Some examples of uni dimensional scales are
a) Height
b) Weight of cars
c) IQ
d) Volume of liquid
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Types of Unidimensional
scaling methods

1) Likert Scale
2) Thurstone Scale
3) Guttman Scale
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LIKERT SCALE
⊸ It was developed by Rensis Likert
⊸ This is a multiple item agree-disagree point scale.
⊸ This is also called a summated scale because the scores on
individual items can be added together to produce a total
score of the respondents.
⊸ The respondents are given a certain number of items
(statements) on which they are asked to express their
agreement/disagreement.
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Assumption of the Likert Scale

Each of the items (statements)
measures some aspects of a single
common factor, otherwise, the scores
on the items cannot legitimately be
summed up. In a typical research study,
there are generally 25 to 30 items on a
Likert Scale.
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Likert Scale
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Likert Scale statements to

measure the image of the
company
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Why likert scale

⊸Easy ⊸More ⊸Provides a

And reliable great
quick volume of
data
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Strength Limitation
Likert Scales have the advantage that However, like all
they do not expect a simple yes / no surveys, the validity of
answer from the respondent, but rather
the Likert scale
allow for degrees of opinion, and even no
opinion at all. attitude measurement
can be compromised
due to social
desirability.
Therefore quantitative data is
obtained, which means that the
data can be analyzed with relative
ease.
GUTTMAN SCALE
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WHAT IS GUTTMAN SCALE ?

- This scale was developed by the 20th century social scientist and
mathematician Louis Guttman.

- The Guttman scale is a unidimensional measurement scale. It tests how

a person responds to a specific topic and measures how positively or
negatively a person reacts to a subject.

- By using the Guttman scale in a survey, you can measure the degree of
agreement or disagreement of respondents on an opinion.
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PURPOSE -
The purpose of the Guttman scale is to form a one-dimensional
continuation for a subject that you want to measure.
For Example –
On a scale of 5, if a respondent scores 3, it indicates that he/she
has agreed to the first 3 statements of the scale. If a different
respondent scores 5, it indicates that he/she has agreed to all the
statements on this cumulative scale.
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CHARACTERISTICS -
⊸ Unidimensional nature – Guttman scale has statements in the order of difficulty – from least
difficult to the most difficult and is thus, unidirectional in nature. In a 10-item Guttman scale,
if a respondent scores 8 – it is indicative of the fact that the respondent agrees with the first 8
statements of the scale and disagrees with the last two statements of the scale.
⊸ Deterministic model – the responses are considered according to the last agreed statement of
the scale and are cumulative of the responses. The answers to all the statements can be judged
on the basis of this cumulative score due to the deterministic nature of this scale.
⊸ It uses reproducible questions - Guttman scale uses questions that are reproducible. This
means questions that cannot give the desired outcome are eliminated and the questions that
can improve the outcome of the scale to the desired purpose are used.
⊸ It uses the ordinal method: The questions or statements used in the Guttman scale are
arranged in an ordinal way. They go from the least useful statement to the most useful
statement on the list.
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Advantages -
⊸ A Guttman scale can be used to respond to as many questions as possible in a short time.
⊸ It is more intuitive than other scales in uni-dimensional measurement which makes it appealing to
researchers.
⊸ It shows data in a ranked way. Statements made on a scale mostly have their level of significance.
Guttman scale ranks the results of those statements by the level of their importance.
⊸ Guttman scale reproduces statements according to how they can give the most desired response.

Disadvantages -
⊸ One downside of the Guttman scale is that it can be misinterpreted depending on who is looking at it.
This is because a researcher may interpret differently e.g based on how the data is ranked while the
respondent or even the judges can also interpret differently
⊸ The Guttman scale can be difficult to create.
⊸ Guttman scale may be limiting. The scale only allows limited content to be used
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Examples -
The Guttman scale measures only one specific subject. For example, this questionnaire reflects someone’s
attitude to depression.

Many times, sensitive subjects are hidden in the questions in the survey to hide the actual purpose of the
survey. Let’s take a look at the image below, its primary intent is to find out about the possibility of being
addicted to gaming. See how the questions are laid out.
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How to create a Guttman scale ?

⊸ Define the topic of your research.
⊸ Generate a series of related questions.
⊸ Score the questions.
⊸ Order the questions from least to most supportive.
THURSTONE
SCALE
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What is a Thurstone Scale?

⊸ The Thurstone Scale is a unidimensional scale that is used to measure and
quantify people's opinions and attitudes in a survey.
⊸ In the design of the survey, the agree-disagree question format is usually
employed.
⊸ The researcher will assign numerical values to the agree-disagree
statements so that he/she can easily understand the opinions of the
respondents on a topic and also grasp the strength of that opinion. The
numerical value assigned will explain whether the respondent’s
responses to the topic are favorable or unfavorable.
⊸ Thurstone scale in an experiment, offers an effective and accurate way of
measuring opinions and a more effective way of drawing statistical
comparisons.
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What is the Purpose of the

Thurstone Scale?
• The purpose of the Thurstone scale survey is to measure the
attitudes and opinions of the respondents on a specific subject.
• However, the scale can also be used to measure a wide range of
market research surveys, such as
• Market surveys that measure opinions: The Thurstone scale
survey question provides quantifiable data about the measured
strength of the respondents' behavior and opinions.
• Market surveys that gauge attitudes or feelings: The
Thurstone scale makes use of the customer satisfaction reports
to predict future purchasing trends. It also uses the employee
engagement level to calculate the organization’s potential
turnover.
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Characteristics of Thurstone Scale

⊸ 1. The mean or median must be calculated: Since each option

in the survey question is weighted, the mean or median of each
of the options must also be calculated. This calculation will form
the basis or standard of the selection method to be used in the
final survey.
⊸ 2. The scale involves two steps: One important characteristic of
the Thurstone scale survey question is that it is never applied at
the first iteration stage without the judges' ratings. The options
visible to the respondent are weighted, and a consensus is
reached on whether they should be there in the survey.
⊸ 3. There are only agree or disagree options: The respondent to
the survey questions can only select based on their agreement or
disagreement with the statement. 
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The Method of Equal-Appearing
Intervals
1. Developing the Focus: The Method of Equal-Appearing Intervals starts
like almost every other scaling method – with the development of the focus
for the scaling project. Because this is a unidimensional scaling method,
we assume that the concept you are trying to scale is reasonably thought of
as one-dimensional. The description of this concept should be as clear as
possible so that the person(s) who are going to create the statements have a
clear idea of what you are trying to measure.
2. Generating Potential Scale Items: You want a large set of candidate
statements (e.g., 80 – 100) because you are going to select your final scale
items from this pool. You also want to be sure that all of the statements are
worded similarly – that they don’t differ in grammar or structure.
For Example : Generate statements that describe specific attitudes
that people might have towards persons with AIDS.
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Rating the Scale Items

⊸ The next step is to have your
participants (i.e., judges) rate
each statement on a 1-to-11
scale in terms of how much each
statement indicates a favorable
attitude towards people with
AIDS.
⊸ Where 1 = “extremely
unfavorable attitude towards
people with AIDS” and 11 =
“extremely favorable attitude
towards people with AIDS.”.
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Computing Scale Score Values for
Each Item
⊸ The next step is to analyze the rating data. For each statement, you need to
compute the Median and the Interquartile Range:

⊸ The median is the value above and below which 50% of the ratings fall. The
median is the 50th percentile.
⊸ The first quartile (Q1) is the value below which 25% of the cases fall and
above which 75% of the cases fall – in other words, the 25th percentile.
⊸ The third quartile, Q3, is the 75th percentile.
⊸ The Interquartile Range is the difference between third and first quartile, or Q3
- Q1.
⊸  To facilitate the final selection of items for your scale, you might want to sort
the table of medians and Interquartile Range in ascending order by
Median and, within that, in descending order by Interquartile Range.
 37 3 1 4 3
26 Statement Interquartile 41 3 2 5 3
Number Median Q1 Q3 Range 6 3 1.5 4 2.5
23 1 1 2.5 1.5 21 3 1.5 4 2.5
8 1 1 2 1 32 3 2 4.5 2.5
9 3 2 3.5 1.5
12 1 1 2 1
1 4 3 7 4
34 1 1 2 1 26 4 1 5 4
39 1 1 2 1 47 4 1 5 4
54 1 1 2 1 30 4 1.5 5 3.5
56 1 1 2 1 13 4 2 5 3
11 4 2 4.5 2.5
57 1 1 2 1 15 4 3 5 2
18 1 1 1 0 40 5 4.5 8 3.5
25 1 1 1 0 2 5 4 6.5 2.5
51 1 1 1 0 14 5 4 6 2
27 2 1 5 4 17 5.5 4 8 4
45 2 1 4 3 49 6 5 9.75 4.75
16 2 1 3.5 2.5 50 8 5.5 11 5.5
42 2 1 3.5 2.5 35 8 6.25 10 3.75
24 2 1 3 2 29 9 5.5 11 5.5
44 2 2 4 2
38 9 5.5 10.5 5
36 2 1 2.5 1.5 3 9 6 10 4
43 2 1 2.5 1.5 55 9 7 11 4
33 3 1 5 4
10 10 6 10.5 4.5
48 3 1 5 4 7 10 7.5 11 3.5
20 3 1.5 5 3.5 46 10 8 11 3
28 3 1.5 5 3.5 5 10 8.5 11 2.5
31 3 1.5 5 3.5 53 11 9.5 11 1.5
4 11 10 11 1
19 3 1 4 3
22 3 1 4 3
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Selecting the Final Scale Items
In our example, we might select one statement for each of the eleven median values. Within each value, you should try to
select the statement that has the smallest Interquartile Range. This is the statement with the least amount of variability across
judges. You don’t want the statistical analysis to be the only deciding factor here. Look over the candidate statements at each
level and select the statement that makes the most sense. If you find that the best statistical choice is a confusing statement,
select the next best choice.

When we went through our statements, we came up with the following set of items for our scale:
⊸ People with AIDS are like my parents. (6)
⊸ Because AIDS is preventable, we should focus our resources on prevention instead of curing. (5)
⊸ People with AIDS deserve what they got. (1)
⊸ Aids affects us all. (10)
⊸ People with AIDS should be treated just like everybody else. (11)
⊸ AIDS will never happen to me. (3)
⊸ It’s easy to get AIDS. (5)
⊸ AIDS doesn’t have a preference, anyone can get it. (9)
⊸ AIDS is a disease that anyone can get if they are not careful. (9)
⊸ If you have AIDS, you can still lead a normal life. (8)
⊸ AIDS is good because it helps control the population. (2)
⊸ I can’t get AIDS if I’m in a monogamous relationship. (4)
Items with higher scale values should, in general, indicate a more favorable attitude towards people with AIDS.
 Administering the Scale
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When we take the average scale values

for these eight items, we get a final value
for this respondent of 7.75. This is where
this particular respondent would fall on our
“yardstick” that measures attitudes towards
persons with AIDS.
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In this example, the respondent only checked four

items, all of which are on the negative end of the
scale. When we average the scale items for the
statements with which the respondent agreed we get
an average score of 2.5, considerably lower or more
negative in attitude than the first respondent.
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THANK YOU