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Measurement

Consist of assigning numbers to empirical events in compliance with a set of

rules

The definition implies that measurement is a three-part process

Selecting observable empirical events

Using numbers or symbols to represent aspects of the events

Applying a mapping rule to connect the observation to the symbol

Example

Studying people who attend an auto show where all of the years new
models are on display

Gender

Styling characteristics

What is measured ?

Concepts

Objects

Include the things of ordinary experience, such as tables,

people, books and automobiles

Also include things that are not as concrete, such as genes,

attitudes, neutrons and peer-group pressures

Are the characteristics of the objects

Physical properties

Psychological properties

Social properties

Researchers measure indicants of the properties of objects

Properties

Age, Years of experience, Number of calls per week

It is not easy to measure properties

Motivation to succeed, ability to stand stress, problem-solving ability,

and persuasiveness

There is often disagreement about how to operationalize the indicants

Not only is it a challenge to measure such constructs, but a studys quality

depends on what measures are selected or constructed, and how they fit the
circumstances

Scale Classification

Employ the real numbers systems

The most accepted basis for scaling has three characteristics

Number are ordered (Order)

Differences between numbers are ordered (Distance)

The number series has a unique origin indicated by the number zero
(Origin)

Measurement Scales

Nominal

No order, or origin

Determination of equality

Ordinal

Order but no distance or unique origin

Determination of greater or lesser values

Interval

Both order and distance but no unique origin

Determination of equality of intervals or differences

Ratio

Order, distance, and unique origin

Determination of equality of ratios

Nominal Scales

Partition a set into categories that are mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive

Counting is the only arithmetic operation

Only labels and have no quantitative value

No order or distance relationship and have no arithmetic origin

No general used measure of dispersion

Several tests for statistical significance may be utilized

Chi-square test

For measures of association, phi, lambda, or other measure may be

appropriate

Ordinal Scales

Include the characteristics of the nominal scale plus an indicator of order

Ordinal scales are possible if the transitivity postulate is fulfilled.

An extension of the ordinal concept occurs when more than one property is of
interest

Add and average ranks is technically incorrect

Use a multidimensional scale

Have another difficulty when combining the rankings of several respondents

Convert the ordinal scale into an interval scale

Thurstones Law of Comparative Judgment

Examples of ordinal scales include opinion and preference scales

Paired -comparison techniques

Ordinal scales have only a rank meaning

Statistical measures

Central tendency

Dispersion

Percentile or quartile

Correlation

median

Rank-order methods

Statistical significance

Nonparametric methods

Interval Scales

Has the powers of nominal and ordinal plus one additional strength

Incorporates the concept of equality of interval

Calendar time is interval scales

Zero time and zero degree(Centigrade and Fahrenheit) are arbitrary

origin

Many attitude scales are presumed to be interval

Thurstones differential scale was an early effort to develop such a

scale

Statistical measures

Central tendency (Arithmetic mean)

Dispersion (Standard deviation)

others (Product moment correlation, t-tests, and F-tests)

Ratio Scales

Incorporate all of the powers of the previous ones plus the provision for
absolute zero or origin

Represent the actual amounts of a variable

Examples are weight, height, distance, and area

In behavioral sciences, few situations satisfy the requirement of the ratio

scale(Psychophysics offering some exceptions)

In business research, we find ratio scale in many areas (money values,

population counts, distances)

Statistical measures

All statistical mentioned up to this point

Multiplication and division

Geometric mean, coefficients of variation

Sources of Measurement Differences

The respondent as an error source

Situation factors

The measurer as an error source

Instrument as an error source

Sound Measurement

Validity

Content validity

Criterion-related validity (Concurrent validity, Predictive validity)

Construct validity

Reliability

Stability (Test-retest)

Equivalence (Parallel forms)

Internal consistency (Split-half, KR-20, Cronbachs alpha)

Practicality

Economy

Convenience

Interpretability

Criteria for Evaluating a Measurement Tool

Validity

Refer to the extent to which a test measures what we actually wish to

measure

Reliability

Has to do with the accuracy and precision of a measurement procedure

Practicality

Is concerned with a wide range of factors of economy, convenience,

and interpretability

Validity

Internal and external

Research Instrument internal validity

Measure what it is purported to measure

Does the instrument really measure what its designer claims it does?

Three major forms

Content validity

Criterion-related validity

Concurrent validity

Predictive validity

Construct validity

Content Validity

The extent to which it provides adequate coverage of the topic under study

Determination of content validity is judgmental and can be approached in

several ways

Through a careful definition of the topic

Use a panel of persons to judge

Criteria-Related Validity

reflects the success of measures used for prediction or estimation

Predict an outcome

Estimate the existence of a current behavior or condition

Predictive and concurrent validity differ in time perspective

An opinion questionnaire that correctly forecasts the outcome of a

union election has predictive validity

An observational methods that correctly categorizes families by current

income class has concurrent validity

Any criteria measure must be judged in terms of four qualities: relevance,

freedom from bias, reliability, availability

Construct Validity

One may wish to measure or infer the presence of abstract characteristics for
which no empirical validation seems possible

Attitude scales

Aptitude tests

Personality tests

Example

Measuring the effects of ceremony on organizational culture

Ceremony was operationally defined would have to correspond to an

empirically grounded theory

Convergent validity

Discriminant validity

Reliability

A measure is reliable to the degree that it supplies consistent results

Reliability is a contributor to validity and is a necessary but not sufficient

condition for validity

Reliability is concerned with estimates of the degree to which a measurement

is free of random or unstable error

Stability

A measure is said to be stable if you can secure consistent results with

repeated measurements of the same person with the same instrument

Test-retest

Equivalence

Considers how much error may be introduced by different investigators (in

observation) or different samples of items being studied (in questioning or
scales)

Equivalence is concerned with variations at one point in time among

observers and samples of items

Interrater reliability may be used to correlate the observations or scores of

the judges and render an index of how consistent their ratings are

Internal consistency

Use only one administration of an instrument or test to assess consistency or

homogeneity among the items

Split-half techniques

Spearman-Brown correction formula

The test splitting may influence the internal consistency coefficient

Kuder-Richardson Formula 20

Cronbachs Coefficient Alpha