TYBMS Prof.

Hemant Kombrabail

ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT

MEANING OF ATTITUDE
Attitude means "settled behaviour indicating opinion." Attitude is a subjective and
personal matter. Opinion of a person is the verbal expression of attitude. Attitude is also
readiness to response. Many researchers admit that attitude involves some acceptance or
rejection of an issue or subject matter under study. When an individual responds to a
social or business issue, it indicates an attempt to provide evaluation, which may be in
favour or against.

DEFINITION OF ATTITUDE
Attitude has been defined by Gene F. Summers as a predisposition to respond to an idea
or object.
In marketing, this refers to the consumers’ predisposition about the product or . If it is
favorable, then the consumer is likely to purchase the product or service
Attitudes about products or services are composed of three elements
 Beliefs such as the products strength or the economy of the product or service
 Emotional feelings such as likes or dislikes
 Readiness to respond to the product or service i.e. to buy it

These three elements combine together to form an image of the product or service in the
mind of the consumer. When the car manufacturer, the movie producer or the insurance
company refers to the company's image, they are referring to some genera! averages of
many individuals’ attitudes towards the company

MEANING OF MEASUREMENT
Measurement is "the assignment of numbers to characteristics of objects, persons, states
or events, according to rules." What is measured is not the object, person, state or event
but some characteristic of it. People are not measured, only their age, height, weight, etc.
are measured. The term number given in the definition of measurement are used as
symbols to represent certain characteristics of the object and it does not mean addition,
subtraction, division or multiplication.

One important aspect of measurement is the creation of the rules. These rules specify how
the numbers are to be assigned to the characteristics to be measured e.g., "Bata increased
its market share by three percentage points during the last year" is understood by those
who know the measurement rule that is being applied. Those who are not familiar with
the rule will not understand what has been measured. The market share can be based on
units sold or sales turnover in rupees or any other rules.

Measurement in physical sciences like physics, chemistry and biology is easy because
they have physical reality to measure. Behavioural scientists like marketing researchers
cannot see or feel attitudes, perceptions, brand loyalty etc. Hence they must attach
numbers in the measurement process. A chemist can exactly know the chemical content
in an antibiotic capsule whereas the market researcher can only obtain a good measure of
intention to purchase.

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

PROCESS OF MEASUREMENT
(1) Determine the constructs of interest: Constructs refer to constructions. Constructs
do not have tangible reality e.g. we cannot see consumer satisfaction but we can
indirectly observe it asking a series of questions. Other constructs are: brand loyalty,
heavy users, competition etc.
(2) Establish the constructs areas: A construct must identify its conceptual boundaries
e.g., marketing orientation identifies and satisfies customer needs. It concentrates on
the means by which an organisation can achieve its goals while satisfying those
needs.
(3) Setting operational definitions: An operational definition indicates what observable
attributes of the construct will be measured and the process that will be used to
attach numbers to those attributes. An example of operational definitions in a bank
can be constructed as: customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, marketing
information systems, marketing efforts etc.
(4) Collect data to test measures: At this stage data is collected from the target
population. Collecting relevant and dependable data will ensure that the researcher is
on the right track with operational measures.
(5) Retain relevant data: Having collected the data the researcher has to decide which
data to keep and which one to reject. It is a relative exercise. Data thus retained will
be of use only now. If any delay is caused, data can become obsolete.
(6) Establish validity of data: An important exercise for the researcher would be to
determine validity of data. Marketing research is a financial proposition. In order to
succeed in correctly measuring attitude it is important that the data are valid and
reliable.
(7) Prepare research report: When the researcher has successfully developed measures
that are reliable and valid, he is now ready to prepare research report which will help
to achieve the objectives of research study. The researcher has to check cause and
effect relationship, test hypothesis, answer research questions and describe the extent
to which a population behaves in a specific manner. In this way the research report
will highlight the results of the research.

ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
Attitude measurement is also commonly referred to as scaling. The measurement
techniques can be divided into
1. Non-Disguised, Non-Structured Techniques
2. Non-Disguised, Structured Techniques
3. Disguised, Non-Structured Techniques
4. Disguised, Structured Techniques

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 TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

The following diagram will illustrate the different methods and techniques of measuring
attitude

Attitude Measurement

Non-Disguised, Non-Disguised, Disguised, Disguised,

Non-Structured Structured Structured Non-Structured
Techniques Techniques Techniques Techniques

Focused Nominal
Scale Word
Group Association
Discussion
Ordinal Story
Scale Completion

Interval Sentence
Depth Scale Completion
Interview
Thematic
Ratio Scale
Appreciation
Tests
Constant
Cartoon /
Sum
Bubble
Mini- Scale
Method
groups Thurstone
Scale
Third Person
Techniques
Likert Scale
Fantasy
Semantic Scenario
Differential
Scale Personification

Multi-
dimensional
Scale Role-playing
NON-DISGUISED, NON-STRUCTURED TECHNIQUES
The essence of these methods is that the purpose of the interview is not a secret and that
there is no fixed structure for conducting the interview.
Qualitative Research

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

The most common method of obtaining information about the behavior, attitudes and
other characteristics of people is to ask them. However it is not always possible or
desirable to use direct questioning to obtain information. People may be either unwilling
or unable to give answers to questions they consider to be an invasion of their privacy,
that adversely affect their self-perception or prestige, that are embarrassing that concern
motivations that they do not fully understand or cannot verbalize, or for other reasons.
Therefore additional approaches to obtaining such information may be necessary,
Marketing researchers frequently use depth interviews, Focused Group Interviews, Mini-
group Interviews and Projective techniques when direct questioning is impractical, more
costly, or less accurate. These techniques generally referred to as Qualitative research.
A. Depth interviews
Individual depth interviews typically require 30-45 minutes. The interviewer does not
have a specific set of pre-specified questions that must be asked according to the order
imposed by a questionnaire. Instead, there is freedom to create questions, to probe those
responses that appear relevant and generally to try to develop the best set of data in any
way practical. However the interviewer must follow one rule; one must not consciously
try to affect the content of the answers given by the respondents. The respondent. The
respondent must feel free to reply to the various questions, probes, and other, subtler,
ways of encouraging responses in the manner deemed most appropriate.
 Subject of interest is discussed in detail.
 There is no fixed pattern for eliciting information from the respondents.
 Generally conducted by highly trained interviewers. They must be thorough in
probing the respondents.
 The interviewee is asked about the subject of his choice, coffee, for example. and an
attempt is made to explore the respondents' attitudes in depth by probing extensively
into any other areas which may come up.
 Interviewers have a general series of topics that they will introduce - perhaps such
topics as coffee or sleep, and will introduce them from time to time if the respondent
does not bring them up.
 Tone of the interview is permissive and the respondent's allowed to talk as much as he
likes.
 The interviewer must not influence the answers of the respondent.
 The interpretation of the answers is very subjective and knowledge of human
behavior is required to analyze the information received.
Individual depth interviews uses three questioning techniques namely:
1. Laddering involves having respondents identify attributes that distinguish brands by
asking questions. Each distinguishing attribute is then probed to determine why it is
important or meaningful. These reasons are then probed to determine why it is
important, and so forth. The purpose is to uncover the “network of meanings”
associated with the product, brand, or concept.
2. Hidden-issue questioning focuses on individual respondents feelings about sensitive
issues. Analysis on focus on common underlying themes across respondents. These
themes can then be used to guide advertising development

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

3. Symbolic questioning requires respondents to describe the opposites of the product /

activity of interest or a specific attribute of the product / activity.
Individual depth interviews have been found to generate more and higher quality ideas on
a per respondent basis than either focus or mini-groups. They are particularly appropriate
when:
1. Detailed probes of an individual's behavior, attitude or needs is required;
2. The subject matter under discussion is likely to be of a highly confidential nature (e. g.
personal investment)
3. The subject matter is of an emotionally charged or embarrassing nature
4. Certain strong, socially acceptable norms exist (e.g. baby feeding) and the need to
conform in a group discussion may influence responses
5. Where highly detailed understanding of complicated behavior or decision-making
pattern (e.g. planning the family holiday) are required or the interviews are with
professional people or with people on the subject of their jobs (e.g. finance directors)

B. Focus group discussions (F.G.D’s)

The standard focus group interview in the United States involves 8 and 12 individuals
and lasts about 2 hours. Normally each group is designed to reflect the characteristics of a
particular market segment. The respondents are selected according to the relevant
sampling plan and meet at a central location that generally has facility for taping and/or
filming the interviews. In Europe, focus groups tend to consist of 6 to 8 respondents, vary
in length from 1.5 to 4 hours and are often conducted in the home of the recruiter.
Otherwise the interviews are similar.
The discussion itself is “led” by a moderator. The moderator attempts to progress through
three stages during the interview
{1) Establish rapport with the group, structure the rules of group interaction, and set
objectives
(2) Provoke intense discussion in the relevant areas
(3) Summarize the groups responses to determine the extent of agreement. In general
either the moderator or a second person prepares a summary of each session after
analyzing the session's transcript
Focus Group Interviews can be applied to:
1. Basic- need studies for product idea creation,
2. New product idea or concept exploration,
3. Product positioning studies.
4. Advertising and communications research.
5. Background studies on consumer's frames or reference,
6. Establishment of consumer vocabulary as a preliminary step in questionnaire
development
7. Determination of attitudes and behavior
Advantages

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

1. Each individual is able to expand and refine their opinions in the interaction with the
other members. This process provides more detailed and accurate information than
could be derived from each separately.
2. A group interview situation is generally more exciting and offers more stimulation to
the participants than the standard depth interviews
3. The security of being in a crowd encourages some members to speak out when they
otherwise would not.
4. As the questions raised by the moderator are addressed to the entire group rather than
an individual the answer contains a degree of spontaneity that is not produced by other
techniques.
5. Focus groups can be used successfully with children over five. They are also very
useful with adults in developing countries where literacy rates are low and survey
research is difficult.
6. A final major advantage of focus groups is that executives often observe the interview
(from behind mirrors) or watch films of the interview.
Disadvantages
1. Since focus group interviews last 1.5 to 3 hours and take place at a central location,
securing cooperation from a random sample is difficult.
2. Those who attend group interviews and actively participate in them are likely to be
different in many respects from those who do not.
3. There are chances that participants may go along with the popular opinion (group
think) instead of expressing their own which may be contrary to the popular opinions
4. The presence of a one-way mirror and / or an observer has been found to distort
participant's responses.
5. The moderator can introduce serious biases in the interview by shifting topics too
rapidly verbally or nonverbally encouraging certain answers, failing to cover specific
areas and so forth
6. Focus groups are expensive on a per respondent basis.

C. Mini-groups
Mini-groups consist of a moderator and 4 - 5 respondents rather than the 8 to 12 used in
most focus groups. They are used when the issue being investigated requires more
extensive probing than is possible in a larger group. Mini-groups do not allow the
collection of a confidential or highly sensitive data as might be possible in an individual
depth interview. However, they do allow the researcher to obtain substantially depth of
response on the topics that are covered. Further the intimacy of the small group often
allows discussion of quite sensitive issues.

The advantages and disadvantages of mini-groups are similar to those of standard focus
groups, but on a smaller scale
 In principle these interviews are the same as the previous ones, excepting that they
are conducted in groups rather than for individuals
 This method is therefore less expensive and less time consuming than the depth
interviews

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

 This method is advantageous because it gives excellent leads to consumer attitudes

that no other method can give
 Another advantage of this method is that each respondent receives stimulation for
responding from his / her group members and so the interviewer need not prompt the
interviewee to answer
 The disadvantage here is that one or two members could dominate in the group and
others might not get a chance to answer This would again make it an individual effort

DISGUISED, NON-STRUCTURED TECHNIQUES

The essence of these methods is that the interviewee either does not know that his attitude
is being studied or does not know for which company the survey is being done or
sometimes he does not know both. It involves using various vague stimuli to which the
respondent is asked to respond In doing so, it is believed that the respondent reveals
several elements of his / her attitude that he would not have revealed in the face of direct
questions.

These tests are not difficult to administer because they are like games played with the
respondents Generally, respondents seem to enjoy the exercise

Projective Techniques
Projective technique is based on the theory that the description of vague objects requires
interpretation and this can only be based on the individuals own background, attitudes,
and values The more vague or ambiguous the object to be described the more one must
reveal of oneself in order to complete the description
The following general categories of projective techniques are described - association,
completion, construction and expression
I. Word Association Techniques
Association techniques require the subject to respond to the presentation of a stimulus
with the first things that come to mind. The word association technique requires the
respondent to give the first word or thought that comes to mind after researcher presents a
word or phrase. In free association only the first word or thought is required. In
successive word association, the respondent is asked to give a series of words or thoughts
that occur after hearing a given word The respondent is generally read a number of
relatively neutral terms to establish the technique Then the words of interest to the
researcher are presented, each separated by several neutral terms The order of
presentation of the key words is randomized to prevent any position or order bias from
affecting the results The most common approach to analyzing the resulting data is to
analyze the frequency with a particular word or category of words given in the response
to the word of interest to the researcher.
Word association techniques are used in testing potential brand names and occasionally
for measuring attitudes about particular products, product attributes, brands, packages or
advertisements.

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

o One of the oldest and simplest projection techniques

o Respondents are presented with a number or different words. one at a time. After each
word. they are asked to give the first word that comes to mind.
o The assumption here is that through free words, the respondents will indicate their
inner feelings about the subject
o Responses are timed (the time limit is usually 5 seconds) so that those responses that
respondents "reason out are identified and taken into account in the analysis.
o The usual way of constructing such a tests is to choose many stimulating and neutral
words. The words are read out to the respondent one at a time, and the interviewer
essentially records the "first word" association by the respondent.
o Respondents should not be asked to write their responses because then the interviewer
will not know if the responses were spontaneous or whether the respondent took time
to think out the responses.
o An example of such a test is: the word “oatmeal”. The first response is "athletes".
This means that the respondent feels that the product is more suited for sportspersons.
More words on the same topic will reveal more about the respondent's attitude about
the product
o While analyzing the results of words-association tests, responses are arranged along
such lines as “favorable–unfavorable” and "pleasant-unpleasant".
II. Completion Techniques
This technique requires the respondent to complete an incomplete stimulus. Two types of
completion are of interest to marketing researchers- sentence completion and story
completion.
A. Sentence Completion as the name implies, requires the respondent to complete a
sentence In most sentence completion tests the respondents are asked to complete the
sentence with a phrase. Generally they are told to use the first thought that comes to their
mind or "anything that makes sense". Because the individual is not required directly to
associate himself or herself with the answer conscious or subconscious defenses are more
likely to be relaxed and allow a more revealing answer.

 The respondent is given a number of incomplete sentences and asked to complete

them.
 The rule here too, is that respondent must fill in the first thought that comes to mind.
 Responses are timed.
 Here the interviewer gets more information than the word association technique.
 However, it is difficult to disguise the motive of the study from the respondent who is
usually able to diagnose the investigators purpose of study
 For example “ A man who reads Sportstar is ____________”
 The sentence can be worded in first or third person. No evidence suggests that one of
these approaches could be better than the other.

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

B. Story Completion is an expanded form of sentence completion. As the name suggests

part of a story is told and the respondent is asked to complete it.
 Respondents are given a half completed story. This is enough to draw their attention
to a particular issue, but the ending is left vague, so that responses can be varied.
 This technique is very versatile and has numerous applications to marketing
problems.
 The findings about products/services give companies inputs to determine advertising
and promotional themes and product characteristics

III. Construction Techniques

This technique requires the respondent to produce or construct something, generally a
story, dialogue, or description They are similar to completion techniques except that less
or no initial structure is provided.
A. Cartoon Technique Here cartoons of one or more people, in a particular situation, are
provided to the respondents. One or more of the characters in the cartoon are shown with
a sentence in bubble form above their heads and one of the others is shown with a blank
bubble that the respondent is to fill in. (Instead of having the bubble show replies or
comments, it can be drawn to indicate the unspoken thoughts of one or more of the
characters) This device allows the respondent to avoid any restraints that might be felt
against having even a .cartoon character speak as opposed to think certain thoughts
B. Third Person Techniques This allows the respondent to project attitudes onto some
vague third person This third person is generally an “average women;" “a neighbor,”
“the guys where you work", “most doctors” or the like Thus instead of asking the
respondent why he or she did something or what he or she thinks about something the
researcher asks what friends, neighbors or the average person thinks about the issue

C. Thematic Appreciation Test Another useful construction technique, involves using

pictures to elicit stories. These pictures are usually relatively vague so that the respondent
must use his or her imagination to describe what is occurring in the situation.

 Here the respondent is shown about 20-30 ambiguous pictures and he is asked to spin
stones about them.
 The interviewer may ask questions to help the respondent to think For example "what
is happening here?” makes the answer focused towards an action Or which one is the
aggressor makes the respondent think about the picture as one of aggression The
reason that respondents must be asked such prompting questions is that the pictures
are very abstract and general and as such are open to very broad and irreverent
interpretations So some amount of focus is needed to channel respondents thinking.
 Each subject in the picture is a medium through which the respondent projects his/her
feelings, ideas, emotions and attitudes The respondent attributes these feelings to the
characters because he sees in the picture something related to himself.
 Responses differ widely and analysis depends upon the ambiguity of the picture, the
extent to which the respondent is able to guess the conclusions and the vagueness of
the support questions asked by the interviewer

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

D. Fantasy Scenario It requires the respondent to make up a fantasy about the products
or brands

E. Personification The respondent is asked to create a personality for the brands or the
products

IV. Expressive Techniques

Role-playing is the only expressive technique utilized to any extent by marketing
researchers. In role-playing the consumer is asked to assume the role or behavior of an
object or another person, such as a sales representative for a particular department store.
The role-playing customer can then be asked to try to sell a given product to a number of
different consumers who raise varied objections The means by which the role player
attempts to overcome the objections can reveal a great deal about his or her attitudes.
Another version of the technique involves studying the role-players attitude on the typee
of people who should shop in the store in question.

Limitations
 As projective techniques generally require personal interviews with highly trained
interviewers and interpreters to evaluate the responses, they tend to be very
expensive.
 Small sample sizes can increase the probability of substantial sampling error. The
reliance on small samples often has been accompanied by non-profitability selection
procedures.
 Some of the projective techniques require the respondents to engage in behavior that
may well be strange to them; this is particularly true for techniques such as role-plays.
Thus there is reason enough to believe that there might be an error in the findings.
 Measurement is also a serious issue with respect to projective techniques. The
possibility of interpreter bias is obvious.

Benfits
 They can uncover information not available through direct questioning or
observation.
 They are particularly useful in the exploratory stages of research
 They can generate hypotheses for further testing and provide attribute lists and terms
for more structured techniques such as the semantic differential.
 The results of projective techniques can be used directly for decision- making

DISGUISED, STRUCTURED TECHNIQUES

The basic premise underlying such tests is that the respondents will reveal their attitudes
by the extent to which their answers to the objective questions vary from the correct
answers. Respondents are given questions that they are unable to correctly. Thus, they are
forced to guess the answers. The direction and extent of these guessing errors is assumed

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

to reveal their attitudes on the subject. Individuals tend to gather information that
supports their supports their attitudes and therefore the kind and extent of information
individuals possess on a given subject indicate something of their attitude. e.g. Do
cornflakes cost more or less per bowl than cereals? Or How much do you think it costs
for hot cereal alone in an bowl of cereal served for breakfast?

NON-DISGUISED, STRUCTUREDTECHNIQUES (SCALING TECHNIQUES /

SCALES OF MEASUREMENT)
The non-structured techniques for attitude studies are primarily of value in exploratory
studies where the researcher is looking for the salient attributes of given products and the
important factors surrounding purchase decisions as seen by the consumer. Structured
techniques can provide a more objective measurement system, one that is more
compatible to a scale or yardstick. The term scaling has been applied to the efforts to
measure attitudes objectively.

Measurement consists of assigning numbers to characteristics of objects or events so as to

reflect some aspect of reality. The objective should be to assign numbers so that the
properties of the numbers are the same as the properties of the objects or events that we
are measuring. This implies we have different kinds of numbers e.g., in a class a student
may be identified by his roll number, which is different from his score on the final
examination and this is different from his final rank in the class. Common scales of
measurement are:

(1) Nominal Scale

Under nominal scale there is no numerical sanctity. Numbers are used only as labels e.g.,
if we want to categorize male and female respondents, nominal scale can be used as 1 for
male and 2 for female. Alternatively, females can be labeled as 1 and males as 2 and it
would be a valid nominal scale. Other variables that are covered by nominal scale are:
religion, languages (written and spoken), education, user/non-user category, reading
habits, brand preference etc. It is important to mention that variables needing statistical
computations like mean and standard deviation cannot be done through nominal scale.

(2) Ordinal Scale

 They are the simplest and most widely used attitude measuring scales in marketing
research
 They serve to rank respondents/ responses according to some characteristic viz. age
of students or favorability to a brand
 They do not measure the degree of favorability of different rankings. All the scale
tells is that the individual has more , less or same amount of characteristic being
measured.
 A set of data is said to be ordinal if the values / observations belonging to it can be
ranked (put in order) to have a rating attached.
 You can count and order but not measure ordinal data.
 The categories for an ordinal set of data have a natural order. Suppose a group of
people were asked to taste varieties of biscuits and classify them on a rating scale of 1

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

to 5 where 1 would correspond to strongly dislike and 5 would be strongly like. A

rating 3 indicates more enjoyment than 2. Such data is ordinal.
 However the distinction between neighboring points on the scale is not necessarily
the same. For instance, the difference in enjoyment expressed by giving a rating of 2
rather than 1 may be much less than the difference in enjoyment expressed by giving
a rating of 4 rather than 3.
 Ordinal scale is ranking scale. It possesses the characteristics of numerical scale and
also indicates the order e.g., there are five executives who are to be ranked as per
their annual income such as.

If the executive with the highest income is given No. 1 and the next to it as No. 2 and so
on, the following order will be determined

The above example is numerical that dealt with the annual income of executives. Ordinal
scale can also be used to find out attributes of a certain product e.g., coffee. Respondents
can be asked questions on attributes like color, flavor, aroma, appearance etc. on a five-
point scale:

By asking respondents about their level of acceptability, it is possible to give ranks.

Individual rankings can be combined in order to get collective ranking of the group.

(3) Interval Scale

Interval scale is also known as ratio-scaled data. This method can be used to compute the
commonly used statistical measures such as arithmetic mean, standard deviation and
Pearson correlation coefficient. The attitude of respondents is measured on a scale of 1 to
5 or 1 to 7 or 1 to 10. For example, when a consumer is asked about brand preference on

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

a scale of 1 to 7, it is called interval scale. It is possible to compute average rating given

by all the respondents and also standard deviation.

 They separate individuals or items by rank order but measure the distance between
rank positions in equal units.
 Such a scale permits the researcher to say that the position 4 is above position 3 on
the scale, and also the distance from position 5 to 4 is same as from 4 to 3.
 Such a scale however does not permit conclusions that position 6 is twice as strong as
position 3 because no zero position has been established

An interval scale is a scale of measurement where the distance between any two adjacent
units of measurement (or intervals) is the same but the zero point is arbitrary. Scores on
an interval scale can be added or subtracted but cannot be meaningfully multiplied or
divided e.g. the time interval between the starts of years 2001 and 2002 is the same as
that between 2003 and 2004, namely 365 days The zero point year 1 AD, is arbitrary as
time did not begin then. Other examples of Interval series include the heights of tides,
and the measurement of longitude.

(4) Ratio Scale

Ratio scale enjoys the advantages of all the three methods discussed earlier. In addition it
possesses the concept of absolute zero or origin. This makes ratio scale superior to all
other methods. Ratio scale commonly uses physical dimensions like weight height,
distance, money value and population counts. Equal ratio on the ratio scale indicates the
equal ratio among the elements being measured e.g. 9 kg and 45 kg are in the ratio of 1 :
5. If we convert kilogram into grams, the same ratio will be obtained. Therefore, 9,000
grams and 45,000 grams have the same ratio of 1 : 5. It thus suggests that one can change
over from one unit of measurement to another by using the relevant conversion factor.
Only ratio scale provides the advantage of converting from one unit of measurement to
another.

(5) TheConstant Sum Scale

The constant sum scale requires the respondent to divide a constant sum, generally 10 or
100, among two or more objects or attributes in order to reflect the respondent’s relative
preference for each object, the importance of the attribute or the degree to which an
object contains each attribute.
The constant sum scale can be used in two cases
1. For two objects at a time (paired comparison) or
2. More than two objects at a time (quadric comparison)

When rank order / ordinal data is used the researcher has no way of knowing the
characteristic which is of overwhelming importance or of knowing a characteristic which
is not of much importance compared to other characteristic. This can be explained with
the following example: Suppose a sample of respondents from the target market is

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

requested to rank order several automobile characteristics with 1 being more important.
Assume the individual ranks are similar and produce the following median ranks for each
attribute:

Price 1
Economy 2
Dependability 3
Safety 4
Comfort 5
Style 6

A constant sum measure of the importance of the same attributes could be obtained from
the following procedure - Divide 100 points among the characteristics listed so that the
division will reflect how important each characteristic is to your selection of a new
automobile.

Price
Economy
Dependability
Safety
Comfort
Style
Total 100

All the responses to the constant sum scale would be consistent with the rank order
results just described.

A disadvantage could be that occassionally individuals may misassign poibts such that
the total is more than or less than 100. This can be adhusted by dividing each point
allocation by the actual taotal and multiplying it by 100.

(6) Thurstone Scale

Thurstone and Chave in their book "The Measurement of Attitude" have advocated a
technique in attitude measurement. They emphasized collection of large number of
statements relating to the subject matter of inquiry. These statements can be collected
through personal experience, secondary data and discussion with knowledgeable people.
The statements should indicate both favourable and unfavourable attitude. The number of
statements should be reasonably large to accommodate diversified attitude. Thurstone and
Chive have given five criteria to select the statements. They are:
(i) The statements should be brief.
(ii) Feasibility to accept or reject the statement in keeping with the attitude of the
respondent.

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

(iii) Acceptance or rejection should be based on reasoning.

(iv) Ambiguous statements should be avoided.
(v) Statements should include attitude variables that are measurable.

The procedure is as follows

1. Collect a large number (as many as possible, perhaps 100) of statements related to the
attitude in question
2. Have a number of judges (≥ 20) sort the statements independently into 11 piles that
vary from the most favorable through neutral to most unfavorable statements.
3. Study the frequency distribution of the ratings for each statement and eliminate those
statements that the different judges have assigned to a number of different piles.
4. Determine the scale value of each of the remaining statements – that is the number of
the pile in which the median of the distribution lies.
5. Select one or two statements from each of the eleven piles for the final scale.
6. Separate cards are given to the respondents who are asked to sort these statements
into a number of intervals. Each respondent is given 11 cards, the first card having
letter A, the second B and so on. The first card with letter ‘A’ represents most
unfavourable attitude and the last card with letter ‘K’ represents most favourable
attitude. The middle card with letter ‘F’ is neutral neither representing favourable nor
unfavourable attitude about the subject or event as shown below:

The advantage of this method is that it is easier to identify the neutral position since there
are odd number pf parameters.

The disavantages of this system are

1. Not widely used in marketing research because of the time consumed during
preparation itself
2. The ratings may be influenced by the Judges personal attitude
3. Different individuals can obtain exactly the same score from agreeing with quite
different terms
4. It does not obtain the intensity of agreement with the ratings.

(7) Semantic Differential Scale

This scale was developed by “Osgood”. This scale is commonly used to compare brands,
determine the effectiveness of advertising, attitude change, evaluation of company image
etc. Semantic differential scale is bipolar one indicating attraction or repulsion from an
object. While framing semantic differential scale it is necessary to consider several
factors. A scale is balanced when either side of the indifferent cue has an equal number of
cues e.g. determining quality of service in a club the following cues can be considered:

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

o The unique dharateristic of semantic differential scale is the use of bipolar scales to
rate any product company or concept of interest.
o Facilitates comaprison of competitive items
o Each scale consists of two opposing adjectives separated by a continuum of seven
segments, as seen above
o Respondents are given a group of these scales and asked to check the segment that
represents the degree of their opinion of the subject in question
o It is best used for image descriptive purposes and is not recommended for overall
attitude studies
o The method is easy and fast to administer, but it is also sensitive to small differences in
attitude, highly versatile, reliable and generally valid
o The advantage of this method is its simplicity while producing results comparable with
those of the more complex scaling methods

(8) Multidimensional Scaling

This is a data reduction technique. Basically it aims at opening up the hidden structure of
a set of data. It helps us to represent the proximities between objects as in a map.
Proximities mean any set of numbers indicating similarity or differences between pair of
objects whereas objects mean things or events. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) attempts
to map the objects in a multidimensional space in such a way that it reveals degree of
similarity or dissimilarity among them.

Consider for instance that a student seeking admission in medicine offered by some
universities has to consider two dimensions viz., prestigious course and practical content,
which can be shown as:

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TYBMS Prof. Hemant Kombrabail

The student has compared the medical course in ten different universities A to J. Vertical
dimension shows practical content of the medical course whereas horizontal dimension
indicates relative prestige of the course. The points that are close to one another show
similarity and the points that are wide apart indicate that the student has seen medical
courses offered by various universities differently on the basis of two dimensions viz./
prestigious course and practical content.

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