Chapter 5 Flashcards

Question

What is the nominal level of measurement?

Answer 1

Nominal measures are discrete and indicate only that there is a difference among categories (e.g., religion: Protestant, Catholic etc.).

Answer 2

Ordinal measures are also discrete. They indicate a difference, plus the categories can be ordered or ranked (e.g., letter grades: A, B, C, D, F; opinion measures: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree).

Answer 3

Interval measures are continuous. They do everything the nominal and ordinal measures do, plus you can specify the amount of distance between categories (e.g., Fahrenheit or Celsius temperature: 5°, 45°, 90°; IQ scores: 95, 110, 125). Arbitrary zeroes may be used in interval measures; they are just there to help keep score.

Answer 4

Ratio measures are also continuous. They do everything all the other levels do, plus there is a true zero. A true zero makes it possible to state relations in terms of proportion or ratios (e.g., money income: $10, $100, $500; years of formal schooling: 1 year, 10 years, 13 years).

Answer 5

An arbitrary zero is when the symbol for the number zero is placed on a continuum as a “placeholder”. Arbitrary zeroes appear in the measurement of temperature. A true zero represents the absence of the measured value. For example, zero weight means the absence of weight.

Answer 6

Mutually exclusive means that an individual or case fits into one and only one attribute of a variable. Exhaustive attributes means that all cases fit into one of the attributes of a variable. Unidimensionality means that all the items in a scale or index fit together, or measure a single construct.

Answer 7

A scale is a measure in which a researcher captures the intensity, direction, level, or potency of a variable construct. It arranges observations on a continuum. A scale can use a single indicator or multiple indicators. Most are at the ordinal level of measurement.

Answer 8

An index is a measure in which a researcher combines several distinct indicators of a construct into a single score. This composite score is often a simple sum of the multiple indicators. It is used for content validity. Indexes are often measured at the interval or ratio level.

Answer 9

An unweighted index gives each item equal weight. It involves adding up the items without modification, as if you multiplied each by 1 (or -1 for items that are negative).

Answer 10

In a weighted index, you value or weigh some items more than others. The size of weights can come from theoretical assumptions. Weighting can change the scores of an index

Answer 11

Some indexes and single-indicator measures are rates. Rates involve standardising the value of an item to make comparisons possible. You often need to standardise the items in an index before you can combine them. Standardisation involves selecting a base and dividing a raw measure by the base. It allows us to compare different units on a common basis.

Answer 12

Likert scales usually ask people to indicate whether they agree or disagree with a statement. Likert scales need a minimum of two categories, such as “agree” and “disagree.” Using only two choices creates a crude measure and forces distinctions into only two categories. It is usually better to use four to eight categories. This is a simple sampling method that usually provides ordinal-level measurements.

Answer 13

It provides an indirect measure of how a person feels about a concept, object, or other person. The technique measures subjective feelings toward something by using adjectives. It uses polar opposite adjectives to create a rating measure or scale. The semantic differential captures the connotations associated with whatever is being evaluated and provides an indirect measure of it. Results from a semantic differential tell you how one person perceives different concepts.

Answer 14

A visual analog scale provides a range from 0 to 100 and asks the participants to rate the way they experience something on this scale. For example, 0 is very cold, 50 is neither cold or warm and 100 is very warm. Hence, they have to assess the temperature on this analog.

Answer 15

You must design a study with the Guttman scaling technique in mind because it is applied after data collection. Guttman scaling begins with measuring a set of indicators or items. The indicators are usually measured in a simple yes/no or present/absent fashion. The participants are asked to respond to a set of statements with one of the two available options from the response set. This scale is created with elements that can be ordered in a hierarchical manner. For example, if someone answers yes to the question 'Do you like pizza?', they are most likely to score higher in a pizza liking scale. Furthermore, it is important to weight each element so that those who have the same responses throughout the whole scale can be eliminated. The aim is to discover which statement is agreed with by most participants.

Answer 16

The Bogardus social distance scale measures the social distance separating ethnic or other groups from each other. It is used with one group to determine how much distance it feels toward a target or “out-group”. The scale has a simple logic: People respond to a series of ordered statements; those that are most threatening or most socially distant are at one end, and those that might be least threatening or socially intimate are at the other end. This is a type of Guttman scale.