General ability to read research articles. Some experience with database and web searching. Connection to UW online restricted resources. Report a problem. Tags: instruments , questionnaires , scales , surveys , tools. Images and video are not included. See details. The Q-Sort Scaling helps in assigning ranks to different objects within the same group, and the differences among the groups piles are clearly visible. It is a fast way of facilitating discrimination among a relatively large set of attributes.
For example, a new restaurant that is just preparing its menu may want to collect some information about what potential customers like:. The document provided contains a list of 50 meals.
Please choose 10 meals you like, 30 meals you are neutral about neither like nor dislike and 10 meals you dislike. In non-comparative scaling, customers are asked to only evaluate a single object.
This evaluation is totally independent of the other objects under investigation. Sometimes called monadic or metric scale, Non-Comparative scale can be further divided into continuous and the itemized rating scales. In continuous rating scale, respondents are asked to rate the objects by placing a mark appropriately on a line running from one extreme of the criterion to the other variable criterion.
Also called the graphic rating scale, it gives the respondent the freedom to place the mark anywhere based on personal preference. Once the ratings are obtained, the researcher splits up the line into several categories and then assign the scores depending on the category in which the ratings fall. This rating can be visualized in both horizontal and vertical form.
Although easy to construct, the continuous rating scale has some major setbacks, giving it limited usage in market research. The itemized rating scale is a type of ordinal scale that assigns numbers each attribute. Respondents are usually asked to select an attribute that best describes their feelings regarding a predefined criterion. Itemized rating scale is further divided into 2, namely; Likert scale, Stapel scale, and semantic scale.
A Likert scale is an ordinal scale with five response categories, which is used to order a list of attributes from the best to the least. This scale uses adverbs of degree like very strongly, highly, etc. This a scale with 10 categories, usually ranging from -5 to 5 with no zero point. It is a vertical scale with 3 columns, where the attributes are placed in the middle and the least -5 and highest 5 is in the 1st and 3rd columns respectively.
This is a seven-point rating scale with endpoints associated with bipolar labels e. It can be used for marketing, advertising and in different stages of product development. If there is more than one item being inherently investigated, it can be visualized on a table with more than 3 columns. In a nutshell, scales of measurement refers to the various measures used in quantifying the variables researchers use In performing data analysis.
They are an important aspect of research and statistics because the level of data measurement is what determines the data analysis technique to be used. Understanding the concept of scales of measurements is a prerequisite to working with data and performing statistical analysis. The different measurement scales have some similar properties and are therefore important to properly analyze the data to determine its measurement scale before choosing a technique to use for analysis.
A number of scaling techniques are available for the measurement of the same measurement scale. Therefore, there is no unique way of selecting a scaling technique for research purposes. Choose the right survey measurement scale with Formplus online survey tool. When carrying out a systematic investigation, the researcher may need the respondents to rate his or her knowledge or degree of In a time when data is becoming easily accessible to researchers all over the world, the practicality of utilizing secondary data for Thurstone scales are used in measuring opinions.
When carrying out experimental research, researchers can adopt either qualitative or quantitative methods of data observation depending on Pricing Templates Features Login Sign up. What is a Measurement Scale? Characteristics of a Measurement Scale Identity Identity is defined as the assignment of numbers to the values of each variable in a data set.
Magnitude The magnitude is defined as the size of a measurement scale, where numbers the identity have an inherent order from least to highest. Equal intervals Equal Intervals are defined as the scale that has a standardized order.
Absolute zero Absolute zero is defined as the feature that is unique to a ratio scale. Levels of Data Measurement The level of measurement of a given data set is determined by the relationship between the values assigned to the attributes of a data variable. The different levels of data measurement are: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales Nominal Scale The nominal scale is a scale of measurement that is used for identification purposes.
Nominal Scale Example In the example below, the measurement of the popularity of a political party is measured on a nominal scale. Independent Republican Democrat Labeling Independent as "1", Republican as "2" and Democrat as "3" does not in any way mean any of the attributes are better than the other. Ordinal Scale Ordinal Scale involves the ranking or ordering of the attributes depending on the variable being scaled.
Ordinal Scale Example For example: A software company may need to ask its users: How would you rate our app? Interval Scale The interval scale of data measurement is a scale in which the levels are ordered and each numerically equal distances on the scale have equal interval difference. When collecting qualitative data, it is preferable to use more than one data collection method.
Obtaining information on the same phenomena in a variety of ways allows the researcher to triangulate the data, adding rigour to the research. By nature, qualitative data collection is emergent and the design is intentionally flexible to enable the researcher investigate themes findings in more detail as they emerge.
Qualitative methods use data collection methodologies such as interviewing, observation, discussions and review of documents e. The results of qualitative research are descriptive or explanatory rather than predictive, and are typically time-consuming to collect and analyse. The following table may be helpful to you as you decide which qualitative tools and techniques are most appropriate for your IR project Table 9.
Unlike quantitative data collection, qualitative data collection can be more flexible allowing the research to incorporate emerging themes in the ongoing data collection. This allows the researcher to test and validate findings as they collect the data. For example, perhaps in one in-depth interview, the researcher learns that people do not attend the lymphatic filariasis mass drug administration because they use traditional medicines and therefore feel that they are already under treatment.
No research is better than its questionnaire and a faulty questionnaire means faulty research. Hence, a questionnaire designed must be valid, reliable and must not be bogus so that the data collected can validate the research. Questionnaire has many advantages which include anonymity of the respondents is guaranteed; it facilitates the collection of large amounts of data in a relatively short period and it is cheap to administer.
The major demerit of the method is that some confusing and misleading questions cannot be clarified as the researcher may not be there to explain the questions, and also, sometimes, the questions may not be easily comprehensible to individuals who are illiterate, thus, the method is restricted only to educated respondents. Moreover, the characteristics of a good questionnaire according to Popoola consist of:.
Interview is a measurement instrument otherwise known as oral questionnaire. It involves a process where a researcher solicits information from respondents through verbal interaction. A researcher would have previously prepared a schedule list of structured questions pertinent to the study before meeting respondents for their opinions on a subject matter.
The researcher poses questions to the respondents and the answers are recorded by the researcher. Materials that could be used during interview period include tape recorder, paper and biro. The major advantage of this method is that it produces high response rate. Besides, it tends to be representative of the entire population of the study, and personal contact between the researcher and respondents enables the researcher to explain confusing and ambiguous questions in detail Aina, ; Popoola, Interview can be conducted personally or through telephone or electronic mailing system.
This is an instrument that is employed by a researcher in which an individual behavior or situation is observed and recorded. There are two types of observation: participant observation and non-participant observation.
In participant observation, the researcher is a member of the group to be observed. Here, accurate and timely result would be obtained by the researcher but it has the problem of biasness. Non-participant observation on the other hand, the researcher is not a member of the group to be observed. Here, the result will be viable as it is free from being biased but it has the problem of inaccuracy and delayed result. Both observation methods enhance first hand information, flexible and cheaper to carryout, demand less active cooperation of the observed and their results are reliable for research activity.
In carrying out behavioural observation, first thing to do is to develop behavioural categories coding scheme. This involves identifying specific attributes that will give clues to the problem at hand. The authors further reiterated that researchers may observe the following guidelines when developing observation method:. This data collection instrument refers to a process whereby researchers obtain data from large group of people at the same time.
This method is different from interview method; in an interview method, researcher focuses on one person at a time but in a focus group discussion method, the researcher obtains data from large number group of people for his research activity. Focus group discussion method is very popular when carrying out research in the field of behavioural science, library and information science, archival science, records and information technology. It could be noted here that a need may arise for a researcher to use more than 2 or 3 approaches to obtain data for his research activity.
This depends on the supervisor, nature of the research or problem to be investigated. However, in focus group discussion; a researcher identifies key informants that may be contacted to elicit the deserved information on the variable s of interest in a study.
It is very important to note that in evaluator study or when accessing the performance of a system or a project or when working at a policy and its impact on a particular operation in a society or organization; focus group discussion method could employed. The approach is used to generate qualitative data in explaining a phenomenon under study or investigation. Membership of the focus group discussion should not exceed 10 members at a time. It is like a mini conference where members of a group could be assembled in a conducive location.
Before now, it is needful for the researcher to have obtained their consent to take part in the study.
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