What are the four major sources of measurement error? Illustrate by example how each of these might affect measurement results in a face-to-face interview situation.
Below are listed some objects of varying degrees of abstraction. Suggest properties of each of these objects that can be measured by each of the four basic types of scales.
Store customers
Voter attitudes
Hardness of steel alloys
Preference for a particular common stock
Profitability of various divisions in a company
Discuss the relative merits of, and problems with:
Rating and ranking scales
Likert and differential scales
Unidimensional and multidimensional scales
Assume you are Menu Foods and you planned a major research study just prior to the largest pet food recall in our history. You plan to proceed with the study and feel you must add one or more questions to measure the consumer’s confidence that your firm will be able to recover. Draft a scale for each of the following types that will measure that confidence.
Constant-sum scale
Likert-type summated scale
Semantic differential scale
Stapel scale
Forced ranking scale
One of the problems in developing rating scales is the choice of response terms to use. Below are samples of some widely used scaling codes. Do you see any problem with them?
Yes—Depends—No
Excellent—Good—Fair—Poor
Excellent—Good—Average—Fair—Poor
Strongly Approve—Approve—Uncertain—Disapprove—Strongly Disapprove