BUS 418: Final Exam - Measurement and Scales

Social Desirability

• When respondents gives answers that they believe are socially acceptable

• Selecting a response because the respondent believes it is the "socially acceptable” answer, rather than the honest answer

• Therefore, data becomes unreliable

• Avoid by:

  • Good Moderator

  • Neutral Questions

  • Random sampling

Nonresponsive Bias

• “Systematic differences” between people who respond vs. people who don’t respond.

• Characteristics, personality, behaviors, attitudes.

• Survey will be biased because it only represents responses from one group of respondents (not the target population)

• Avoid by:

  • Incentive

  • Short, simple survey

  • Follow-Up (text, emails)

Measurement

Rules for assigning numbers to objects to represent quantities of attributes

Scales of Measurement (NOIR)

• Non-Metric ( ranking or labeling)

  • Nominal

  • Ordinal

• Metric (looking at relative size differences between objects)

  • Interval

  • Ratio

Nominal Scale

label objects

• basic measurement: identity or categorize

• Examples: gender, brand, purchase, (yes/no)

• Measures of Average: mode

Ordinal Scale

Indicate relative size differences between objects

• basic measurement: order

• Examples: brand preference, income (in categories)

• Measures of Average: median

Ratio Scale

Have true zero value

• basic measurement: comparison of absolute magnitudes

• Examples: units sold, income

• Measures of Average: mean

Interval Scale

Measure unobservable variables, continuous intervals that show order, direction, and a consistent difference in values

• basic measurement: comparison of intervals

• Examples: customer satisfaction, brand attitude, likelihood to buy

• Measures of Average: mean

Types of Interval Scales Commonly Used in Marketing Research

• Likert Scale

• Semantic Differential Scale

• Stapel Scale

Likert Scale

• Commonly used in marketing

• Ask respondents to indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement of a series of statements

• Measures intensity of agreement or disagreement

Semantic Differential Scale

• Series of bipolar adjectives for properties of the object

• Respondents indicate their impressions of each item by indicating locations along its continuum

• Good way to measure brand, company, or store image

• CAUTION: Halo effect

  • Flip around positive and negative so that you can get a snake diagram and mitigate getting a halo effect

Snake Diagram

connects the average responses to a series of semantic differential statements, thereby depicting the profile of the object/objects being evaluated

Stapel Scale

• Relies on positive and negative numbers

• Range from +5 to -5

• Scale may or may not have neutral zero

• Examples

  • slider scales

  • stars

  • graphic scales

Stapel Scale: Slider Scales

Drag the indicator on the bar to indicate the amount of intensity

Staple Scale: Graphic Scale

Indicate your overall opinion about Target by placing a check mark at an appropriate position on the line below

Staple Scale: Star

Rate your experience with your recent product purchase:

Best practices when having interval scales

• Multi-item likert scale/measures (i.e., composite measures)

• Choice intervals of 1 to 7 or 1 to 10

• Include “don’t know” or “not applicable” options

Reliability of Measurement

Measurements provides consistent data

Validity of Measurement

Measuring what was supposed to be measured

Potential Errors With Our Measurements

• Components of an Observed Response

  • Observed response = Truth + systematic Error + Random Error