Download BASIC MARKETING RESEARCH: A DECISION MAKING

BASIC MARKETING RESEARCH: A DECISION MAKING APPROACH (3rd ed.)
LECTURE NOTES
Presented by: Teoman Duman
Chapter 9. Measurement and Scaling: Fundamentals and Comparative Scaling
 Olympics Study Example – Following the olympics in 2008, a research conducted by The Brain Waves Group
with 6500 teens in 26 countries revealed data about teenagers’ preferences of different types of sports viewed in
the olympics event. The research included questions with comparative rating scales to teenagers and showed that
boys prefer most basketball and soccer whereas girls prefer athletics as their favorite spectator sport activities.
Companies like Levi’s used these data to advertise to teenagers after the olympic games.
 This chapter describes the concepts of scaling and measurement. Figure 9.2. provides an overview of the
topics discussed in this chapter.
 Measurement and scaling
 Measurement is assigning numbers or other symbols to characteristics of objects being measured
according to predetermined rules. Characteristics of the item are measured rather than the item
directly. This means that consumers are not measured, only their perceptions, attitudes, preferences or
other relevant characteristics. The most important aspect of measurement is deciding how to assign
numbers to the characteristics being measured.
 Scaling places the objects being measured along a continuum. An attitude scale can place peoples’
attitudes on a continuum from 1 to 5.
 Scale characteristics and levels of measurement – All scales used in marketing research can be
described in terms four basic characteristics:

Description – refers to the unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate each value of
the scale. Exp.1= Female, 2=Male where female and male are unique descriptors used to
describe values 1 and 2 of the gender scale.

Order – refers to the relative sizes or positions of the descriptors. Order is denoted by
descriptors such as greater than, less than and equal to. All scales do not possess the order
characteristic like gender scale (i.e. female is not greater or less than male.)

Distance – means that absolute differences between the scale descriptors are known and can
be expressed in units. A scale that has distance also has order. Distance implies order but the
reverse might not be true.

Origin – means that the scale has a unique or fixed beginning or true zero point. For example,
household income scale has origin characteristic. A scale that has origin characteristic also
has distance, order and description characteristic. If a scale has a higher-level characteristic, it
also has all the lower level characteristics.
 Primary scales – Four primary scales of measurement are nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales
(Table 9.1.).

Nominal scale – uses numbers as labels or tags for identifying and classifying objects. The
only characteristic possessed by these scales is description.
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
Ordinal scale – is a ranking scale. In these scales numbers are assigned to objects to determine
whether an object has more or less of a characteristic than some other object. With this scale,
the researcher cannot determine how much more or less compared to other objects. In
marketing research, ordinal scales are used to measure relative attitudes, opinions, perceptions
and preferences.

Interval scale – uses numbers in equal distances. These scales possess the characteristics of
description, order and distance. In an interval scale, the location of zero point is not fixed.
That’s why interval scales don’t have origin characteristic (i.e. measurement of temparature).

Ratio scale – possesses all the properties of the nominal, ordinal and interval scale. In
addition, a zero point is specified where the origin of the scale is fixed. With these scales, the
researcher can identify or classify objects, rank the objects, and compare intervals or
differences.
 A classification of scaling techniques – The scaling techniques commonly used in marketing
research can be classified into comparative and noncomparative scales (Figure 9.5.).

Noncomparative scaling – objects are scaled independently of each other. No direct
comparison objects are assumed. The resulting data are generally assumed to be interval.
More on Chapter 10.

Comparative scaling – objects are presented with a pair of alternatives and asked to select
one based on some criterion.
 Paired comparison – a respondent is presented with a pair of alternatives and asked
to select one based on some criterion.
 Rank order scale – respondents are simultaneously presented with several
alternatives and asked to rank them according to some criterion.
 Constant sum scale – respondents allocate a constant sum of units, such as points or
dollars among a set of alternativesaccording to some specified criterion.
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