MEASUREMENT SCALES
BY
P.ANITHA
ASMA BEGUM
M.MANJULA
INTRODUCTION
Measurement
is the process of observing and recording the
observations that are collected as a part of research.
The observations may be in terms of numbers or other symbols to the
characteristics of objects according to certain rules.
Scaling is the assignment of objects to numbers or semantics according
to certain rules. In scaling the objects may be text statement, usually
statements of attitude, opinion or feeling.
QUANTITATIVE MEASURES
Quantitative research relies primarily on numbers as the main unit of
analysis. It is more commonly used as a primary method in scientific
and clinical research, such as drug trials or laboratory experiments
where tests may need to be repeated many times, for example to ensure
that a new drug is safe.
The quantitative measures used in research process are surveys and
questionnarie.
In measurement scales ordinal scale, interval scale and ratio scale are
quantitative measures in which the data collected can be represented in
quantity such as ranking, ordering quantity and by using ratios.
QUALITATIVE MEASURES
Qualitative research relies primarily on words as its unit of analysis and
its means of understanding. However, it can also use voice tone,
loudness, cries, sighs, laughs, and many other ways of human
communication.
They mainly focus on the attitude,opinion and feeling of an person.
For eg: The words may be spoken in individual interviews (face to face
or on the telephone) or groups, or they may be written, so you may
have to analyse the spoken words of an interview, focus group or
conversations or the written words of an account or description or diary
record.
In measurement scales nominal technique is used as a qualitative
measures.
TYPES OF MEASUREMENT SCALES
There are four types of measurement scales,
1.Nominal scale
2.Ordinal scale
3.Interval scale
4.Ratio scale
NOMINAL SCALE
Nominal Scales - there must be distinct classes but these classes have no
quantitative properties. Therefore, no comparison can be made in terms of
one category being higher than the other.
In nominal scales, categories, individual or objects into mutually exclusive or
collectively exhaustive group.
For example - there are two classes for the variable gender -- males and
females. There are no quantitative properties for this variable or these classes
and, therefore, gender is a nominal variable.
Other Examples:
country of origin
biological sex (male or female)
animal or non-animal
ORDINAL SCALE
Ordinal Scales - there are distinct classes but these classes have a
natural ordering or ranking. The differences can be ordered on the
basis of magnitude.
Ordinal scales can also use attribute labels (anchors) such as bad,
medium, and good, or "strongly dissatisfied", "somewhat
dissatisfied", "neutral", or "somewhat satisfied", and "strongly
satisfied.
For example - final position of horses in a thoroughbred race is an
ordinal variable. The horses finish first, second, third, fourth, and so
on. The difference between first and second is not necessarily
equivalent to the difference between second and third, or between third
and fourth
INTERVAL SCALE
It helps to measure the distance between any two points on the scale. An
interval scale allows us to perform certain arithmetical operations on the
data collected from the responded.
It not only groups the individuals according to some categorizes and taps
the order of the group, it also measures the magnitude of the differences
in the preference among the individual.
Example - Celsius temperature is an interval variable. It is meaningful
to say that 25 degrees Celsius is 3 degrees hotter than 22 degrees
Celsius, and that 17 degrees Celsius is the same amount hotter (3
degrees) than 14 degrees Celsius. Notice, however, that 0 degrees
Celsius does not have a natural meaning. That is, 0 degrees Celsius does
not mean the absence of heat.
RATIO SCALE
Ratio scales have an absolute or true zero of measurement. The term
absolute zero is not as precise as it was once believed to be. We can
conceive of an absolute zero of length and similarly we can conceive of
an absolute zero of time.
For example - heart beats per minute has a very natural zero point.
Zero means no heart beats. Weight (in grams) is also a ratio variable.
Again, the zero value is meaningful, zero grams means the absence of
weight.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FOR
NOMINAL SCALES:
For nominal scales, The appropriate measure of central tendency of a
nominal scale is mode, and neither the mean nor the median can be
defined.
Permissible statistics are chi-square and frequency distribution, and
only a one-to-one (equality) transformation is allowed (e.g., 1=Male,
2=Female).
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FOR
ORDINAL SCALE:
For ordinal scales, The central tendency measure of an ordinal scale
can be its median or mode, and means are uninterruptable.
Hence, statistical analyses may involve percentiles and non-parametric
analysis, but more sophisticated techniques such as correlation,
regression, and analysis of variance, are not appropriate. Monotonically
increasing transformation (which retains the ranking) is allowed.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FOR
INTERVAL SCALES :
Interval scale allows us to examine how much more is one attribute
when compared to another, which is not possible with nominal or
ordinal scales.
Allowed central tendency measures include mean, median, or mode, as
are measures of dispersion, such as range and standard deviation.
Permissible statistical analyses include all of those allowed for
nominal and ordinal scales, plus correlation, regression, analysis of
variance, and so on. Allowed scale transformation are positive linear.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FOR RATIO
SCALE :
All measures of central tendencies, including geometric and harmonic
means, are allowed for ratio scales, as are ratio measures,such as
studentized range or coefficient of variation.
All statistical methods are allowed.Sophisticated transformation such
as positive similar (e.g., multiplicative or logarithmic) are also allowed.
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