Lesson 3
Measurement & Attitude Scales
in Marketing Research
1
Lesson outline:
Considerations in Choosing a
Question-Response Format
Some Basic Concepts in Measurement
The Four Types of Scales used by
Marketing Researchers
Reliability & Validity of Measurements
2
Basic Question-Response
Formats
Designing a questionnaire can be compared
with Backstreet Boys composing a song, or
Vincent Van Gogh painting a landscape… it
requires creativity!
There are however, some basic aspects to
questionnaire should be taken into
consideration
There are basically three basic questionresponse formats for a researcher to
choose
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(1) Open-Ended Response Format Questions
Unprobed
Probed Format
(2) Closed-Ended Response Format Questions
Dichotomous
Multiple Category
(3) Scaled-Response Format Questions
Labeled
Unlabeled
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(1) Open-Ended Response Format Questions
Unprobed
Probed Format
There is no response options for the
respondent
Respondent is instructed to respond in
his/her own words
The response naturally depends on the
topic
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(1) Open-Ended Response Format Questions
Unprobed OR Probed Format
An unprobed format seeks no additional
information from the respondent
When the researcher wants comments or
statements or simply wants the respondent
to indicate the name of a brand or the name
of a movie or store – he uses a probed
format
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(1) Open-Ended Response Format Questions
Unprobed
Q1 ‘What do you think of the latest Nokia
mobile phone?’
‘I don’t like it!.’
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BASIC QUESTION-RESPONSE
FORMATS
(1) Open-Ended Response Format Questions
Probed Format
‘Did you watch F4 in concert last week?
‘Yes’
What do you think of the concert?’
‘It was terrible!’
Why was it terrible?
‘They danced funny and their dressing were
so obiang!’
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(2) Closed-Ended Response Format Questions
Provides response options to questions
Can be Dichotomous OR Multiple Category
A dichotomous close ended question has
only two response options, e.g. ‘yes’ or ‘no’,
‘agree’ or ‘disagree’
If there are more than two options for the
response, then the researcher is using a
multiple category closed-ended question
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(2) Examples:
Dichotomous
Do you agree or disagree with the statement ‘Nokia
handphones are more durable than Motorola
handphones?
Multiple Category
If you were to buy a handphone tomorrow, which
brand would you be most likely to purchase? Would
it be: (a) Nokia (b) Motorola c) Ericsson (d) Siemens
(e) National Panasonic (f) other brands?
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(3) Scaled-Response Format Questions
Labeled OR Unlabeled
A Scaled-Response question uses a scale
developed by the researcher to measure
the attributes
The response options are identified on the
questionnaire
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(3) Scaled-Response Format Questions
Labeled scaled-response format uses a
scale in which all of the scale positions
are identified with some descriptors
Eg. Do you strongly disagree, disagree,
agree or strongly agree with the
statement “Nokia handphones are of
better value than Motorola
handphones?”
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BASIC QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMATS
(3) Scaled-Response Format Questions
For Unlabeled scaled-response format,
the scale may be purely numerical and
only end-points of the scale are
identified
E.g. On the scale of 1 to 5, how do you
rate the Nokia handphone on the ease
of operation?
(1 = very easy to 5 = very difficult)
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MORE EXAMPLES…
Labeled scaled-response format
Marketing Research is an interesting subject
Strongly Agree
Agree
2
1
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
3
4
Unlabeled scaled-response format
In choosing a Poly, it must have modern teaching facilities
V. Important
Not Important at all
1
2
3
5
4
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Pros & Cons of Alternative
Response Formats
Example:
Unprobed open-ended question
+ allows respondents to use his/her own
words
- Difficult to code and interpret
Probed open-ended question
+ able to get complete answers
- Difficult to code and interpret
Please read Chapter 9 page 305 for more
details!
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CONSIDERATIONS IN
CHOOSING A QUESTION
RESPONSE FORMAT
Nature of the Property being Measured
Previous Research Studies
Data Collection Mode
Correct Format!
Ability of the Respondent
Scale Level Desired
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Nature of the Property Being
Measured
The inherent nature of the response
often determines the question-response
format
For instance, if the F4 pop group wants to
know if the respondents have seen their
last MTV, the only answers are ‘yes’, ‘no’
and perhaps ‘do not recall.’
But if Kit Kat wants to know how much
consumers like their new chocolate bar,
then a scaled-response approach is better
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Previous Research Studies
Sometimes a survey follows an earlier one,
and there may be a desire to compare new
findings with the previous survey
Researchers may want to try to use question
formats that are tried and used before,
proven to be reliable and valid and suits the
purpose of the current study, it is then a good
practice to adopt or adapt it rather than ‘reinventing the wheel’
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Data Collection Mode
Some data collection modes are better suited for
certain question formats
It can be difficult to administer certain types of
response formats (e.g. scaled response type) over the
telephone as some require detailed explanation before
the respondent can envision the response-scale items
However, mail or other self-administered
questionnaires accommodates scaled-response
questions well because the respondent can see the
response categories on the questionnaire itself
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Ability of the Respondent
Some respondents may relate better to one type of
response format than another
For instance, if the respondent is not as articulate
or may be reluctant to verbalize their opinions, openended option is not a wise move
Some respondents may not be used to rating objects
on numerical scales (unlabeled format). It is then
appropriate to use a label format, or perhaps to move
back to a ‘yes’ ‘no’ dichotomous closed-ended
question format
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Scale Level Desired
If response options are simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’, the
researcher can report the percentages - (60%
answered ‘yes’, 40% answered ‘no’)
But if the question asks how many times respondents
used an ATM machine during the past month, the
researcher could calculate an average number of times
e.g. 8.5 times a month
An average is different from a percent, dichotomous
yes-no response is less informative than a scaledresponse option such as ‘0’, ‘1’ or ‘2’…
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Basic Concepts in Measurement
In research, what are we really measuring?
We are measuring ‘properties’ – ‘attributes’ or
‘qualities’ – of objects
Objects refer to consumers, brands, stores,
advertisements or whatever of interests to the
researcher in the research project
Properties are the specific features or
characteristics of an object that can be used
to distinguish it from another object
In research, measurement is determining
HOW MUCH of a property is possessed by
an object
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MEASUREMENT IN
MARKETING RESEARCH
Basic Concepts in Measurement
• Objective Properties
• Subjective Properties
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MEASUREMENT IN
MARKETING RESEARCH
Objective properties are physically
verifiable characteristics such as age,
income, gender, race, number of times
xxx etc. Easy to measure
Sometimes market researcher often
desire to measure subjective properties
which cannot be directly observed e.g. a
person’s attitudes, beliefs or intentions
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MARKETING RESEARCH DONE
BY A DRINK MANUFACTURER
Object
Properties
Age
Annual Income
Gender
Canned Drink
Last bought
Evaluation
Of ‘our’ brand
Intention to buy
Our brand
Mr. Kiasu
Ms. Heow
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$40,000
Male
32
$25,000
Female
Coca-cola
Pepsi
Good
Fair
Strong
Weak
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Levels of Measurement of Scales
4 types
Nominal Scale – using only
labels/characteristics of descriptions
Ordinal Scale – ability to rank-order
Interval Scale – distance between descriptor
is known
Ratio Scale – ones in which a true zero
origin exists
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Nominal Scaled Question
Please indicate your housing type 1) HDB 2) Private Apts
Please indicate your gender 1) Male 2) Female
Ordinal Scaled Question
Please rank your preference of the following mobile phone
brands (1 – most preferred to 3 – least preferred)
Nokia
_____
Motorola _____
Siemens
_____
In your opinion, can you say the prices of NTUC are
_____ higher than Carrefour
_____ about the same as Carrefour
_____ lower than Carrefour
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Interval Scaled Questions
Please rate each car brand in terms of its overall performance
Very Poor
Toyota
1
Mitsubishi
1
Nissan
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
Very Good
4
5
4
5
4
5
Ratio Scaled Questions
1. Please indicate your weight.
_______ kg
2. About how many times have you spend more than $10 in
NTUC last week?
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >7 (please specify_____)
3. What’s the probability that you will take a cab if you want
go to Orchard Road?
_______ percent
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