Measurement, Scales and Attitudes

Nominal

Ordinal?

Interval

Ratio

Types of Scales Nominal - Identification only – Ex (players numbers, male=1 female=0) Ordinal -Ranking – Ex (grades?) SEI score Interval –Ranks and distinguishes intervals – Ex (temperature) Ratio – absolute quantities – Ex (weight, degrees Kelvin)

You Try Which college is your major housed in? 1. CLS 2. CBA 3. SAH How much money did you spend on alcohol at the bars in the last 7 days?_____Dollars – Or answer categories 1. $ $ $21 +

Practice Problems

Appropriate Statistical Analysis Scale matters. – Usually

Index Measures Conglomerates of questions Mapping multiple responses to a single metric Consumer Sentiment Index

Good Measurement Reliable Valid Sensitive

Wrong

Validity-reliability bulls eye (Babbie, 1998) Both valid & reliable Reliable, but invalid

Reliability Degree to which measures are free from error

Reliability Repeatability – Test-Retest method- High correlation suggests stability/reliability

Reliability Internal Consistency – Split-half method- take results form even questions and compare to odd number questions – Equivalent form- asking different but equivalent questions of a group, and comparing their answers on the separate questions

Validity the ability to measure that which you intend to measure Reliability is a necessary condition for validity, not sufficient – Example - if the scale always reads 5 pounds too much. It is reliable, but not a valid measure of weight.

Types of Validity Content (Face) validity- agreement that a scale accurately measures that which it is intended to Criterion validity- the ability of a measure to correlate highly with another measure of the same construct – Concurrent validity- measures made concurrently – Predictive validity- correlates with future measure Construct validity- The ability of a measure to confirm a network of related hypothesis

Types of Validity Content (Face) validity- agreement that a scale accurately measures that which it is intended to

Types of Validity Criterion validity- the ability of a measure to correlate highly with another measure of the same construct – Concurrent validity- measures made concurrently – Predictive validity- correlates with future measure

Types of Validity Construct validity- The ability of a measure to confirm a network of related hypothesis

Sensitivity a measurements ability to measure variability in stimuli Without variability in response we have nothing of interest. – We can classify but not understand or explain

Attitude Measurement Attitude – an enduring disposition which contains these components: – Affective (emotional) – Cognitive (reason) – Behavioral (action) Example (sexual identity) Hypothetical Construct

Male Sex Behavior and Identification Col1 exclusively male Col 2 both Col 3 exclusively female

Female Sex Behavior and Identification Col1 exclusively male Col 2 both Col 3 exclusively female

Male Sexual Attraction and Identification

Female Sexual Attraction and Identification

Practice Problems Drinking Alcohol Religion Music

Concept Measurement Awareness: measure of knowledge; understanding; familiarity Behavior: measure of actions/choices that took place Motivation: measure of why people behave as they do Opinion: measure of belief or attitude Preference: measure of likes/dislikes Desire: measure of wants Interest: measure of concerns/curiosities Intention: measure of anticipated behavior Demographic: measure of respondent’s characteristics Perceptions of above?

What is Most Appropriate?

Methods of Measuring Attitudes Rating – Likert Scale – carefully constructed attitudinal measure which asks people for their agreement with a statement – Example: Please rate each of the following, on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being least important and 10 being most important…

Methods of Measuring Attitudes Ranking – Rank choices from most important to least important Example: Of the following 10 items please rank them in order of importance, with 1 being least important and 10 being most important.

Source:

Sorting – Asks respondents to sort items/names into groups

Multiple Choice – Provide alternative responses that R might choose.

Monadic Q. How satisfied are you with your current job? 1. Very Satisfied 2. Somewhat Satisfied 3. Not Very Satisfied

Comparative Q. Compared to your current job how much responsibility did you have at your last job? 1. More 2. About the Same 3. Less

How many categories are needed?

Balanced Q. How satisfied are you with your current cable service? 1. Very Satisfied 2. Somewhat Satisfied 3. Somewhat unsatisfied 4. Very unsatisfied

Unbalanced Q. How satisfied are you with your current cable service? 1. Very Satisfied 2. Somewhat Satisfied 3. Somewhat unsatisfied

Forced Choice Does not allow the respondent to offer no opinion, which is different than a neutral opinion

Unforced Choice Allows respondents to opt out of providing an opinion.

JOHN ALLEN PAULOS Unless we know how things are counted, we don’t know if it’s wise to count on the numbers.

Albert Einstein Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.