Business Research

Measurement and scaling

Attitude Measurement

Attitude Measurement


Used to understand and influence behavior since:

 

Concept exists that attitudes lead to behavior More feasible to ask questions on attitudes than to observe and interpret behavior Capacity for diagnosis and explanation Learn which features of a new product concept are acceptable or unacceptable Measure the perceived strengths and weaknesses of competitive alternatives
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What Are Attitudes?



Mental states used by individuals to structure the way they perceive their environment and guide the way they respond to it Components of attitude:
  

Cognitive or Knowledge component Affective or Liking component Intention or Action component

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Cognitive or Knowledge Component

Represents:
  

A persons information about an object Awareness of existence of the object Beliefs about the characteristics or attributes of the object Judgments about the relative importance of each of the attributes
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Affective or Liking Component



Summarizes a persons overall feelings toward an object, situation, or person on a scale of likedislike or favorable-unfavorable When there are several alternatives, liking is expressed in terms of preference for one alternative Preference measured by asking which alternative is most preferred or first choice, which is the second choice, and so on
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Intention or Action Component



Refers to a persons expectations of future behavior toward an object Intentions are usually limited to a distinct time period that depends on buying habits and planning horizons Incorporates information about a respondents ability or willingness to pay for the object, or otherwise take action
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Concept of Measurement


Standardized process of assigning numbers or other symbols to certain characteristics of objects of interest, according to pre-specified rules

Characteristics for Standardization



One-to-one correspondence between the symbol and the characteristic in the object that is being measured Rules for assignment should be invariant over time and the objects being measured
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Scaling


Process of creating a continuum on which objects are located according to the amount of the measured characteristic possessed Type of scales:
   

Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

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Nominal Scale
   

Objects are assigned to mutually exclusive, labeled categories No necessary relationships among categories No ordering or spacing are implied Only possible arithmetic operation is a count of each category

Examples: Are you: 1)Male 2)female You belong to: 1)Asia 2)America 3)Europe
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Ordinal or Rank Scale

 

Ranks objects or arranges them in order by some common variable Does not provide information on how much difference there is between objects Arithmetic operations are limited to statistics such as median or mode

Example; Rank your preferences for the following attributes in making a car purchase decision. Price ____________ Safety___________ Design____________ Fuel economy____________
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Interval Scale


Numbers used to rank objects also represent equal increments of the attribute being measured Differences can be compared Entire range of statistical operations can be employed for analysis

 

On a scale of 1 to , how would you rate the performance of natural gas as home heating fuel in terms of reliability of supply? (1 being least reliable and being most reliable) 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Ratio Scale
 

Type of interval scale with meaningful zero point Possible to say how many times greater or smaller one object is than another Only scale that permits comparisons of absolute magnitude

How old are you? _________

What is your zip code?______

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Types of Scales and Their Properties

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Attitude Rating Scales



Present a respondent with a continuum of numbered categories that represent the range of possible attitude adjustments Classified as:
 

Single item scales Multiple item scales

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Classification of Attitude Scales

Attitude Scales

Single-Item Scales Itemized Category Scales

Continuous Scales Comparative Scales Paired Comparison Scales

Multi-Item Scales

Semantic Differential Scale

Associative Scales

Q-sort Scales

Rank Order Scales

Constant Sum Scales

Pictorial Scales

Likert Scales

Thurstone Scales

Stapel Scales
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Single Item Scales

 

Only have one item to measure a construct Types of Single item scales
     

Itemized-category scale Comparative Rank-order Q-sort Pictorial Constant sum

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Itemized-category Scales


Respondent selects number of categories

from

limited

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Comparative Scale


A judgment comparing one object, concept, or person against one another

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Rank-order Scales


Respondent compares one item with another or a group of items against each other and ranks them

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Q-sort Scaling


Respondents sort comparative characteristics into normally distributed groups Ten or more groups increases accuracy of results

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Pictorial Scales


Various categories of the scale are depicted pictorially

 

Thermometer Scale Funny faces scale

Format must be comprehensible to respond and allow accurate response

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Types of Single Item Scales (Contd.)

Paired-Comparison Scales


The brands to be rated are presented two at a time, so each brand in the category is compared once to every other brand Brands are rated on a given number of points that are then divided between the two brands on the basis of respondents preferences Frame of reference is always the other brand being tested; these brands may change over time
A and B A and C A and D B and C B and D C and D

Compare

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Constant-sum Scale


Respondents allocate a fixed number of rating points among serial objects to reflect relative preference

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Designing Single Item Scales

Decisions regarding form and structure:
    

Number of scale categories Types of poles used in the scale Strength of the anchors Labeling of the categories Balance of the scale
Balanced Very good Good air oor Very oor cellent Very Good Good air oor
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Unbalanced

Multiple-item Scales


Developed to measure a sample of beliefs toward the attitude objects and combine the set of answers into an average score Types of multiple-item scales:
  

Likert scale Thurstone scales Semantic-Differential Scales

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Likert Scale


Requires respondent to indicate degree of agreement or disagreement with a variety of statements related to the attitude object Also called Summated Scale since scores on individual items are summed to give total score for respondents Usually consists of item part and evaluative part Likert scale Is uni-dimensional

 

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Likert Scale Example

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Thurstone Scales


Also known as the method of equal-appearing intervals since objective is to obtain a unidimensional scale with interval properties

Step 1: enerate a large number of statements or adjectives reflecting all degrees of favorableness toward the attitude objects Step 2: A group of judges is given this set of items and asked to classify them according to their degree of favorableness or unfavorableness
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Thurstone Scales (contd.)

Advantages
 

Easy to administer Requires minimum instructions Time consuming Expensive to construct Not as much diagnostic value as a Likert scale Values depend on the attitudes of the original judges
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Limitations
   

Semantic-Differential Scale


Respondents rate each attribute object on a number of five or seven-point rating scales bounded by polar adjectives or phrases With bipolar scale, the midpoint is a neutral point

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Semantic-Differential Scale (contd.)



Pairs of objects or phrases selected must be meaningful in market being studied and correspond to product/service attributes Rotate negative pole on either side to avoid "halo" effect Category increments are treated as interval scales so group mean values can be computed for each object on each scale May also be analyzed as a summated rating scale

 

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Profile Analysis
   

Application of semantic differential scale Plot mean ratings for each object on each scale for visual comparison Overall comparison of brands hard to grasp with many brands and attributes Not all attributes are independent

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Stapel Scales
    

Uses one pole rather than two opposite poles Respondents select a numerical response category High positive score reflects good fit between adjective and object Easy to administer and construct No need to assure bipolarity

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Associative Scaling

Most effective for markets where respondent is knowledgeable only about a small subset of a large number of choices Appropriate to choice situations that involve a sequential decision process Best suited to market tracking where the emphasis is on understanding shifts in relative competitive positions
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Continuous Rating Scales

Respondents rate objects by placing a mark at appropriate position on a line running from one extreme of the criterion variable to the other Also called graphical rating scales Easy to construct Scoring is cumbersome and unreliable
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General Guidelines For Developing A Multiple-Item Scale

Determine clearly what you are going to measure enerate as many items as possible Ask experts in the field to evaluate the initial pool of items Determine the type of attitudinal scale to be used Include some items that will help in the validation of the scale Administer the items to an initial sample Evaluate and refine the items Optimize the scale length
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Choosing An Attitudinal Scale

Problems in choosing a scale:
 

Different techniques with different strengths and weaknesses Virtually any technique can be adapted to the measurement of any one of the attitude components The specific information required Adabtability of the scale to the data collection method and budget constraints Compatibility of the scale with the structure of the respondents attitude
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Researchers choice shaped by:

 

Accuracy of Attitude Measurements

Validity: An attitude measure has validity if it measures what it supposed to measure



is

Face or consensus Validity



The extent to which the content of a measurement scale appears to tap all relevant facets of the construct

Criterion Validity


Based on empirical evidence that the attitude measure correlates with other criterion variables

Concurrent validity


Two variables are measured at the same time

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Predictive validity


The attitude measure can predict some future event

Accuracy of Attitude Measurements (Cont.)



Convergent validity


A form of construct validity that represents the association between the measured construct and measures of other constructs with which the construct is related on theoretical grounds A form of construct validity that represents the extent to which the measured construct is not associated with which the construct is related on theoretical grounds A scale evaluation criterion that relates to the underlying question "what is the nature of the underlying variable or construct measured by the scale?"

Discriminant validity


Construct Validity


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Accuracy of Attitude Measurements (Contd.)

Reliability


The consistency with which the measure produces the same results with the same or comparable population Extent to which ratings provided by a scale are able to discriminate between the respondents who differ with respect to the construct being measured Refers to the ease of scale administration and interpretation in different research settings and situations Relevance = reliability * validity
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Sensitivity


eneralizability


Relevancy


Scales in Cross-national Research

Responses Can Be Affected by:
 

Low literacy and educational levels Culture; semantic differential scale is closest to pan-cultural scale Adapting response formats, particularly their calibration, for specific countries and cultures

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