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Research Methodology

Professor Li-Hua LI Chaoyang University of Technology (CYUT)

朝陽科技大學 李麗華

Text Book: Uma Sekaran, ”Research Methods for Business : A Kill Building Approach,” John Wiely & Sons, 2016.

Chapter 8

Measurement of Variables: Operational Definition and Scales

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Types of Experimental Design

• Operational Definition

• Methods of Scales

• Nominal Scale

• Ordinal Scale

• Interval Scale

• Ratio Scale

Refrence: https://www.slideshare.net/mehtabmr/lecture-07-2498485

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• Reduction of abstract concepts to render them measurable in tangible way is called operationalizing the concepts. (把觀念操作化)

• It is done by looking at the behavioral dimensions, facets, or properties denoted by the concept.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION

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• Certain things lead themselves to easy measurement through the use of appropriate measurement instrument.

• For example, blood pressure, pulse rate, body temperature, height, weight, etc. The same is true for measuring office floor area.

Example: To obtain personnel’s info. of the office:

– What is your job title?

– What is your marital status?

– How long have you been working in this organization?

– How long have you been working on this particular assignment?

Explanation of Operational Definition

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• When we get into realm (particular area) of people subjective feelings, attitudes, and perceptions, the measurement of these factors or variable becomes difficult. So the abstract notation are broken down into observable characteristic behavior i.e., dimensions, and elements.

Explanation of Operational Definition

Attitude (態度)

Perception (認知)

subjective feelings (情感)

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• The concept of thirst is abstract: we cannot see thirst.

however, we would expect a thirsty person to drink

plenty of fluid.

• If several people say they are thirsty, then we may

determine the thirst level of each of these individuals by

the measure of the quantity of fluid that they drink to

quench their thirst.

• We will thus be able to measure their level of thirst,

even though the concept of thirst itself is abstract and

nebulous (unclear).

• In the above example the thirst is the concept, the

drinking of plenty of fluid is the dimension, and the

measuring of the quantity of fluid that they drink to

quench their thirst is the element.

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EXAMPLE OF OPERATIONAL DEFINITION:

DIMENTION (D) (INDICATORS) AND ELEMENT (E)

(VARIABLES) OF THE CONCEPT (C) LEARNING

DIMENTION (D) (INDICATORS)

ELEMENT (E) (VARIABLES)

CONCEPT (C)

Integrate with

other relevant

Material (E)

Learning(C)

Understanding(D) Retention(D) Application(D)

Answer

questions

Correctly

(E)

Give

appropriate

Examples

(E)

Recall material

after some

lapse of time

(E)

Solve problems

applying concepts

understood and

Recalled (E)

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• A scale is a tool or mechanism by which individuals are distinguished as to how they differ from one another on the variable of interest to our study.

• The degree of sophistication to which the scales are fine-tuned increases progressively as we move from nominal to the ratio scale.

• There are four basic methods of scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.

METHODS OF SCALES

nominal ordinal interval ratio

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• A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain categories or groups.

• The categories are also collectively exhaustive (complete). In other words, there is no third category into which respondents would normally fall.

• Thus the nominal scale gives us some basic, categorical, gross information.

Nominal Scale

For example: variable of gender has 2 categories,

i.e., male or female. These two groups can be

assigned as 1/2 or 0/1 or M/F

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Example:

• If we had interviewed 100 people, and assigned code number 1 to all male respondents and number 2 to all female respondents, then computer analysis of the data at the end of the survey may show that 49 of the respondents are men and 51 are women.

• This frequency distribution tells us that 49%of the survey’s respondents are men and 51% women.

• Other than this marginal information, such scaling tells us nothing more about the two groups.

Example of Nominal Scale

men

women

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• An ordinal scale not only categorized the variables in such a way as to denote differences among the various categories, it also rank orders the categories in some meaningful way.

• With any variable for which the categories are to be ordered according to some preference, the ordinal scale would be used. The preference would be ranked.

Ordinal Scale

For example: best to worse, first to last etc.

and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.

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Example:

• Rank the following five characteristics in a job in terms of how important they are for you. You should rank the most important item as 1, the next in importance as 2, and so on, until you have ranked each of them 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

Example of Ordinal Scale

JOB CHARECTERISTICS RANKING OF IMPORTANCE

The opportunity provided by the job to:

1. Interact with others. 4

2. Use a number of different skills. 3

3. Complete a whole task from beginning to end. 1

4. Serve others. 2

5. Work independently. 5

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• An interval scale measure the distance between any two points on the scale. This help us to compute the means and the standard deviations of the responses on the variables.

• In other words, the interval scale not only groups, it also measures the magnitude of the differences in the preferences among the individuals.

• It is more powerful scale than the nominal and ordinal scale, and has for its measure of central tendency the arithmetic mean. Its measure of dispersion are the range, the standard deviation, and the variance.

Interval Scale

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Example:

• Indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements as they related to your job, by circling the appropriate number against each, using the scale given below.

Example of Interval Scale

Strongly Disagree

1

Disagree 2

Neither Agree NorDisagre

3

Agree 4

Strongly Agree

5

The following opportunities offered by the job are very important to me:

1. Interact with others. 1 2 3 4 5

2. Use a number of different skills. 1 2 3 4 5

3. Complete a whole task from beginning to end. 1 2 3 4 5

4. Serve others. 1 2 3 4 5

5. Work independently. 1 2 3 4 5

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• The ratio scale overcomes the disadvantage of the arbitrary origin point of the interval scale, in that it has an absolute zero point, which is a meaningful measurement point. Thus the ratio scale not only measures the magnitude of the differences between points on the scale but also tapes the propositions in the differences.

• It is most powerful of the four scales because it has a unique zero origin (not an arbitrary origin) and subsumes all the properties of the other three scales.

• The measurement of central tendency of the ratio scale could be either the arithmetic or the geometric mean and the measure of dispersion could be either the standard deviation, or variance, or the coefficient of variation.

Ratio Scale

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Example: The responses to the questions could range from 0 to any reasonable figure.

1. How many other organization did you work for before joining this system? ____

2. Indicate the number of children you have in each of the following categories:

____below three years of age

____between three to six years

____over six years but under twelve years

____twelve years and over.

3. How many retail outlets do you operate? ____.

Example of Ratio Scale

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PROPERTIES OF FOUR SCALES

Highlights Statistical Tools

Scales Difference/

Category

Order/ Rank

Distance/ Magnitude

Unique Origin

Measures of Central Tendency

Measure of Dispersion

Some Tests of

Significance

Nominal Yes No No No Mode ________ Chi-square Test ( X2 )

Ordinal Yes Yes No No Median Semi-inter-

quartile range

Rank-order

correlation

Interval Yes Yes Yes No Arithmetic

Mean

Standard

deviation,

variance,

coefficient of

variation

t, F

Ratio Yes Yes Yes Yes Arithmetic or

Geometric

Mean

Standard deviation

or variance, or

coefficient of

variation

t, F

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1. Schematically depict the operational definition of the concept of stress and develop 5 questions that would measure stress in school.

2. Schematically depict the operational definition of the concept of motivation and develop 5 questions that would measure motivation.

• Develop a nominal scale of gender for students in CYUT.

• Develop an ordinal scale for consumer preference for different supermarket.

• Develop an interval scale of effectiveness for employee in AAA electronic factory.

• Develop a ratio scale for employees of AAA company for absenteeism.

Exercise

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Review of this class

After learning of chapter 8, you should be able to:

• Operationally define concepts

• Know the characteristics and power of the four types of scales – nominal, ordinal, inteval, and ratio.