Discuss measurement and scaling. What are they and how are they related?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Measurement means assigning numbers or other symbols to characteristics of objects according to certain prespecified rules. What is measured is not the object, but some characteristic of it. Thus, we do not measure consumers - only their perceptions, attitudes, preferences, or other relevant characteristics. In marketing research, numbers are usually assigned for one of two reasons. First, numbers permit statistical analysis of the resulting data. Second, numbers facilitate the communication of measurement rules and results.

The most important aspect of measurement is the specification of rules for assigning numbers to the characteristics. There must be one-to-one correspondence between the numbers and the characteristics being measured. The rules for assigning numbers should be standardized and applied uniformly. They must not change over objects or time.

Scaling may be considered an extension of measurement. Scaling involves creating a continuum upon which measured objects are located. Consider a scale from 1 to 100 for locating consumers according to the characteristic "attitude toward department stores." Each respondent is assigned a number from 1 to 100 indicating the degree of (un)favorableness, with 1 = extremely unfavorable, and 100 = extremely favorable. Measurement is the actual assignment of a number from 1 to 100 to each respondent. Scaling is the process of placing the respondents on a continuum with respect to their attitude toward department stores.