Measurement Scales Paper

Measurement Scales Paper

Marketers use scales to measure the assignment of numbers to objects or persons to represent quantities to their attributes (Aaker, 2007). This includes the measurement of agreements or disagreements that relates to attitudes or objects. For example, the measurement is in two parts, the item part, and the evaluative part. It is important to understand the level of characteristics of scales such as nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio because scales differ with respect to the scaling characteristics. Nominal scales label the objects. Ordinal scales rank the order and size difference of the respondents or their responses. Interval scales represent the equal distance between the descriptor. Finally, the ratio scales have a true zero point such as an actual number. These types of scales can be beneficial to an organization that needs to measure and understand various characteristics when analyzing questionnaires. It helps determine what can or cannot be said about the object and helps determine which statistical analysis should be used.

Nominal

Nominal scales are a type of measurement most commonly used when conducting market research. This type of scale divides data into different categories that are mutually exclusive and collectively exhausted so that the data will be categorized into a group (McDaniel, 2006). Nominal scales use numeral to identify objects, groups, or individuals. When working with a questionnaire, nominal scales will allow the researcher to measure the results by labeling and identifying the objects to a number. The numbers are not added and have no true number value but are used as a reference to identify answers in the questionnaire. For example, if there were a questionnaire that wa...

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...ls. Ratio scales incorporates the nominal, ordinal, and interval characteristics with a true zero point. Both interval and ratio-scaled data are also called metric data and parametric and nonparametric tests can be performed on the data. Properties need to be examined on different scales to evaluate the measurement and ensure accuracy. Information is knowledge and seeking data for decision-making can improve logistics, sales, promotions, new product development, brand management, and pricing (McDaniel & Gates, 2006).

Works Cited

Aaker, D. A., Kumar, V., & Day, G. S. (2007). Marketing research (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Burns, A. C., Bush, R. F. (2006). Marketing research: Online research applications (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

McDaniel, C. & Gates, R. (2006). Marketing research (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.