Chapter 6
Quantitative
Research:
An Introduction
Learning Objectives
At the end of this chapter the student should :
• Understand quantitative research.
• Be able to define and explain quantitative research.
• Know how and when to use quantitative research in a
research project.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
RESEARCH SKILLS
At the end of this chapter, the student should, using the
exercises on the companion website, be able to:
• Determine what needs to be measured to address a
research question.
• Distinguish levels of scale measurement.
• Form an index or composite measure.
• List the three criteria for good measurement.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Introduction
The essential question is a question of
measurement; what needs to be measured
and what means of measurement should be
used.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
What Do I Measure?
In a research project the research statement or question, which
provides the conceptual framework for the research
project, is used to decide what concepts need to be
measured.
concept
• Measurement
– The process of describing some property of a
phenomenon of interest, usually by assigning numbers in
a reliable and valid way.
• Concept
– A generalized idea about a class of objects that has
been given a name; an abstraction of reality that is the
basic unit for theory development. Every discipline and
theory is made up of concepts, e.g. key ideas,
keywords, key phrases.
co. governance: -board characteristic
- audit
-
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Are There Any Validity Issues with this Measurement?
Figure 6.2 Are there any validity issues with this measurement?
how precise is ur measurement
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Operational Definitions
leverage=total debt/total asset
•
•
•
•
z score -> corporate bankruptcy
Operationalization
– The process of identifying scales that correspond to variance in
a concept that will be involved in a research process.
Scales
– A device providing a range of values that correspond to
different values in a concept being measured.
Correspondence rules
– Indicate the way in which a certain value on a scale
corresponds to some true value of a concept.
Constructs
– A term used for concepts that are measured with multiple
variables.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Levels of Scale Measurement
can analyze frequency and mod only
• Nominal
– assigns a value to an object for identification or
classification purposes only.
– Most elementary level of measurement.
• Ordinal
– allow things to be arranged in order based on how
much of some concept they possess.
indicate ur gender
boleh rank measurment
frequency, mod, median, range
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Continued…
descriptive statistcs
• Interval
cth: CGPA, Temperature, sales
– Scales that have both nominal and ordinal properties,
but that also capture information about differences in
quantities of a concept from one observation to the
next.
• Ratio
more meaningful
– Represent the highest form of measurement in that they
have all the properties of interval scales with the
additional attribute of representing absolute quantities;
characterized by a meaningful absolute zero.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio Scales provide Different Information
Figure 6.4 Nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales provide different information
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Mathematical and Statistical Analysis of Scales
• Discrete Measures
nominal - agree/disagree
– Measures that take on only one of a finite
number of values.
• Continuous Measures
use for ratio and interval
– Measures that reflect the intensity of a
concept by assigning values that can take on
any value along some scale range.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Index Measures
• Attributes
– A single characteristic or fundamental feature of an
object, person, situation or issue.
• Index Measures
– An index assigns a value based on how much of the
concept being measured is associated with an
observation.
– Indexes often are formed by putting several variables
together.
• Composite Measures
– Assign a value to an observation based on a
mathematical derivation of multiple variables.
difficult to measure. need few measurement to measure attribute -> latent measurement
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Computing Scale Values
• Summated Scale
– A scale created by simply summing (adding together)
the response to each item making up the composite
measure.
• Reverse Coding
– A method of making sure all the items forming a
composite scale are scored in the same direction.
Negative items can be recoded into the equivalent
responses for a non-reverse-coded item; changing the
value of a response to a scale so it is the opposite of
the original value.
– In this way, negative items in a scale are scored in the
same direction as positive items.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Recoding Made Easy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Click on transform.
Click on recode.
Choose to recode into the same variable.
Select the variable(s) to be recoded.
Click on old and new values.
Use the menu that appears to enter the old values and the
matching new values. Click add after entering each pair.
7. Click continue.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Three Criteria for Good Measurement
Reliability
Validity
Good
Measurement
Sensitivity
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Reliability
• Reliability
– Reliability is an indicator of a measure’s internal
consistency. Consistency is the key to understanding
reliability. A measure is reliable when different
attempts at measuring something converge on the same
result.
• Internal Consistency
– Represents a measure’s homogeneity or the extent to
which each indicator of a concept converges on some
common meaning.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Internal Consistency
• Split-half Method
– A method for assessing internal consistency by checking
the results of one-half of a set of scaled items against
the results from the other half; used to test equivalence
reliability.
• Coefficient alpha (α)
– The most commonly applied estimate of a multiple-item
scale’s reliability.
– It represents the average of all possible split-half
reliabilities for a construct.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Test-Retest Reliability
• Test-retest Method
– Used to estimate reliability.
– A questionnaire is used then later, the same test is
repeated and compared for consistency; administering
the same scale or measure to the same respondents at
two separate points in time to test for stability.
• Problems:
– the pre-measure, or first measure, may sensitize the
respondents to their participation in a research project
and subsequently influence the results of the second
measure.
– If the time between measures is long, there may be an
attitude change or other maturation of the subjects.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Validity
plenty of databases is not good - for questionaire
• Validity
• The accuracy of a measure or the extent to which a score
truthfully represents a concept.
• are we accurately measuring what we think we are measuring?
• Establishing Validity:
• Is there a consensus among other researchers that my attitude
• scale measures what it is supposed to measure?
• Does my measure cover everything that it should?
• Does my measure correlate with other measures of the same
concept?
• Does the behaviour expected from my measure predict
actual observed behaviour?
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Continued….
• Face Validity
– A scale’s content logically appears to reflect what was
intended to be measured.
• Content Validity
– The degree to which a measure covers the breadth of
the domain of interest.
• Criterion Validity
– The ability of a measure to correlate with other
standard measures of similar constructs or established
– criteria.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Continued….
• Construct Validity
– Exists when a measure reliably measures and truthfully
represents a unique concept; it consists of several
components including face validity, content validity,
criterion validity, convergent validity and discriminant
validity.
• Convergent Validity
– Concepts that should be related to one another are, in fact,
related; highly reliable scales contain convergent validity.
• Discriminant Validity
– Represents the uniqueness or distinctiveness of a measure; a
scale should not correlate too highly with a measure of a
different construct.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA
Sensitivity
• Sensitivity
kena ada atleast 5
strongly disagree
disagree
neutral
agree
disagree
– Measurement of an instrument’s ability to
accurately measure variability in stimuli or
responses
– Generally increased by adding more response
points or adding scale items.
For use with Business Research Methods 3e, Quinlan, Babin, Carr, Griffin and Zikmund
ISBN 9781473791343 © 2024 Cengage Learning EMEA