Scaling

Scaling
Techniques
Techniques
 MEANING OF SCALING
 Scaling describes the procedure of assigning numbers
to various degrees of opinion, attitude and other
concept.
This can be done in two ways:
1. Making a judgment about some characteristics of an
individual & then placing him directly on a scale.
2. Constructing questionnaires in such a way that the
score of individual’s responses assigns him a place on
scale.
 Scaling is applied to the procedure for attempting to
determine quantitative measures of subjective abstract
concept.
SCALING TECHNIQUES-
Scaling Techniques are used when concepts to
be measured are –
 Complex,

 Abstract,

 We do not possess the standardized

measurement tools.
IMPORTANT SCALING TECHNIQUES
 Rating Scales
 The Graphic Rating Scale
 The Itemized Rating Scale (Numerical Scale)
 Ranking Scales
 Method of Paired Comparisons
 Method of Rank Order
Rating Scales
Used to judge an object in absolute terms against some
specific criteria. Ratings may be in forms such as –
 “like- dislike”

 “above average, average, below average”

 “excellent- good- average- below average- poor”

There is no specific rule whether to use a two-points, three
points scale or scale with still more points.
3 to 7 points scale are generally used for the simple
reason that more points on a scale provide an
opportunity for greater sensitivity of measurement.
TYPES OF RATING SCALES
1. The Graphic Rating Scales:
Under it the various points are usually put along the line to form a continuum & rater indicates his
rating by simply marking a mark(√) at the appropriate point on a line.

e.g. How do you like the Product A?

(Please check √ )

Like very Like Some Neutral Dislike Some Dislike

much What What Very Much
 MERITS-
• Easy & Simple
• Commonly used in practice.

DEMERITS-
• The respondents may check at almost any position
along the line which fact may increase the difficulty
of analysis.
•The meaning of terms like ”very much” and “some
what” may depend upon respondent’s frame of
reference..
 2. The Itemized Rating Scale
(Numerical Scale)
It contain a series of statements from which respondent
selects one as best reflecting his evaluation.
E.g. Suppose we wish to inquire as to how well does a
worker get along with his fellow workers? We may ask
respondent to select one from:
1. He is almost always involved in some friction with a
fellow worker.
2. He is often at odds with one or more of his fellow
workers.
3. He sometimes gets involved in friction.
4. He infrequently becomes involved in friction
with others.
3. He almost never gets involved in friction
with fellow workers.
MERITS-
i. Provide more information & meaning to the rater.
ii. More Reliable.
DEMERITS-
i. Difficult to develop.
ii. The statements may not say exactly what the
respondent would like to express.
 Ranking Scales
(Comparative Scales)
 Respondents directly compare two or more objects & make choices
among them.
TYPES:
1. Method Of Paired Comparison:
Respondent can express his attitude by making a choice between two
objects.
 When objects are more than two, the number of judgements (N) are
given by formula:
N = n(n-1)/ 2
where n = number of objects to be judged.
2. Method Of Rank Order
 Respondents are asked to rank their choices. Moreover, a
complete ranking is not needed when respondents are asked to
rank only their first choice.

MERIT:
 Easier & Faster Method
DEMERITS:
i. Data obtained is ordinal & hence rank ordering is an ordinal
scale with all its limitations.
ii. Respondents may become careless in assigning ranks, when
there are many items
Different Scales For Measuring Attitudes
Of People:
1. Arbitrary Scales
2. Differential Scales (Thrustone- type Scales)
3. Summated Scales (Likert- type Scales)
4. Cumulative Scales (Louis Guttmann's
Scales)
 Arbitrary Scales
 Designed largely through the Researcher’s own
subjective selection of items.
 Researcher first collect few statements which he
believes is appropriate to a given topic & then
people are asked to check in a list the statement
with which they agree..
Merits-
 Easy & quickly developed.

 Less Expensive.

 Highly specific & adequate

Demerit-
 Rely on Researcher’s insight & competence.
 Differential Scales (Thrustone-type
Scales)
 Selection of items is made by a panel of judges who
evaluate the items in terms of whether they are relevant to
the topic area & unambiguous in implication.
 Developed by Consensus approach
MERITS-
Most appropriate & reliable in measuring a single attitude.
DEMERITS-
 Costly & require efforts to develop.
 Provide less information about the respondent’s
attitude in comparison to other scales.
Summated Scales (Likert type Scales)
 Developed by utilizing the item analysis approach
 Consist of number of statements favourable or
unfavourable to which respondent is asked to react.
 Each response is given a numerical score, indicating its
favourableness or unfavourableness & scores are totalled
to measure the respondent’s attitude.
E.g. respondent may respond in one of following ways:

Strongly Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly

Agree(1) (2) (3) (4) Disagree(5)
 Merits-
 Relatively easy to construct in comparison to Thrustone
scale as it can be performed without a panel of judges.
 More Reliable & provide more information and data.
 Takes much less time to construct & is used frequently.
Demerits-
 We can only examine whether respondents are more or
less favourable to a topic but we can not tell how much
more or less.
 Total score can be secured by variety of answer patterns.
Cumulative Scales
( Louis Guttman’s Scalogram Analysis)

 It consist a cumulative series of statements to

which a respondent expresses his agreement or
disagreement.
 Statements are related to one another in such a way
that an individual, who replies favourably to say item
No.3 , also replies favourably to items No. 2 & 1 and
one who replies favourably to item No.4 also replies
favourably to items No. 3,2 &1 and so on.
Response Pattern in Scalogram Analysis
Item Number Respondent Score
4 3 2 1
X X X X 4
- X X X 3
- - X X 2
- - - X 1
- - - - 0

X = Agree
- = Disagree
Merits-
 Researcher’s subjective judgement is not allowed to creep
in the development of scale since the scale is determined
by replies of respondents.
 Appropriately used for personal, telephone or mail surveys
Demerits-
 In practice perfect cumulative scales are very rarely found.
 Hardly constitute a reliable basis for assessing attitude of
persons toward complex objects.
 Bit more difficult in comparison to other scaling methods.
 REFERENCES-
 Research Methodology
Methods & Techniques
C.R. Kothari
 Methodology And Techniques of Social Research
Wilkinsin & Bhandarkar
 Theory And Practice In Social Research
Hans Raj