The idea is that people who agree with one item on this list also agree with all previous items. 14. High quality quantitative dissertations are able to clearly bring together theory, constructs and variables.Broadly speaking, constructs are the building blocks of theories, helping to explain how and why certain phenomena behave the way that they do. NOT objects themselves. AU - Gardiner, Claudia C. AU - Lankau, Melenie J. PY - 1993/4. A six-item binary scale for measuring political activism, Have you ever written a letter to a public official, Have you ever signed a political petition, Have you ever donated money to a political cause, Have you ever donated money to a candidate running for public office, Have you ever written a political letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine, Have you ever persuaded someone to change his/her voting plans, Table 6.3. ), and religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim, Jew, etc.). If women earn less than men for the same job, is that gender prejudice? Even if we assign unique numbers to each value, for instance 1 for male and 2 for female, the numbers do not really mean anything (i.e., 1 is not less than or half of 2) and could have been easily been represented non-numerically, such as M for male and F for female. Scales can be unidimensional or multidimensional, based on whether the underlying construct is unidimensional (e.g., weight, wind speed, firm size) or multidimensional (e.g., academic aptitude, intelligence). Construct validity is "the degree to which a test measures what it claims, or purports, to be measuring." Indicators operate at the empirical level, in contrast to constructs, which are conceptualized at the theoretical level. Typical marketing constructs are brand loyalty, satisfaction, preference, awareness, knowledge. Nominal scales, also called categorical scales, measure categorical data. Thurstone also created two additional methods of building unidimensional scales – the method of successive intervals and the method of paired comparisons – which are both very similar to the method of equal-appearing intervals, except for how judges are asked to rate the data. The process of regarding mental constructs as real is called reification, which is central to defining constructs and identifying measurable variables for measuring them. This process allows us to examine the closeness amongst these indicators as an assessment of their accuracy (reliability). Are there different kinds of prejudice, and if so, what are they? Rather, scaling is the formal process of developing scale items, before rating scales can be attached to those items. Likewise, a customer satisfaction scale may be constructed to represent five attributes: “strongly dissatisfied”, “somewhat dissatisfied”, “neutral”, “somewhat satisfied” and “strongly satisfied”. Each of these methods are discussed here. For instance, in the SES index, isn’t income correlated with education and occupation, and if so, should we include one component only or all three components? I don’t see it that way at all. These scales are used for variables or indicators that have mutually exclusive attributes. Unidimensional constructs are those that are expected to have a single underlying dimension. Like previous scaling methods, the Guttman method also starts with a clear definition of the construct of interest, and then uses experts to develop a large set of candidate items. All statistical methods are allowed. Allowed central tendency measures include mean, median, or mode, as well as measures of dispersion, such as range and standard deviation. However, there may be a few exceptions, as shown in Table 6.6, and hence the scale is not entirely cumulative. The three approaches are similar in many respects, with the key differences being the rating of the scale items by judges and the statistical methods used to select the final items. In this vein, this paper (a) critically reviews the state of construct measurement in organizational strategy research … Constructs: Constructs are measured with multiple variables. This is why the research literature often includes different conceptual definitions of the same construct. In the classical model of test validity, construct validity is one of three main types of validity evidence, alongside content validity and criterion validity. Overview; Fingerprint; Abstract. Answering all of these questions is the key to measuring the prejudice construct correctly. Some argue that the sophistication of the scaling methodology makes scales different from indexes, while others suggest that indexing methodology can be equally sophisticated. Permissible statistics are chi-square and frequency distribution, and only a one-to-one (equality) transformation is allowed (e.g., 1=Male, 2=Female). AU - Scandura, Terri A. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 2001 25: 4, 101-113 Download Citation. Unidimensional constructs are those that are expected to have a single underlying dimension. A rating scale is used to capture the respondents’ reactions to a given item, for instance, such as a nominal scaled item captures a yes/no reaction and an interval scaled item captures a value between “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Attaching a rating scale to a statement or instrument is not scaling. Allowed scale transformation are positive linear. Multidimensional constructs consist of two or more underlying dimensions. Following this rating, specific items can be selected for the final scale can be selected in one of several ways: (1) by computing bivariate correlations between judges rating of each item and the total item (created by summing all individual items for each respondent), and throwing out items with low (e.g., less than 0.60) item-to-total correlations, or (2) by averaging the rating for each item for the top quartile and the bottom quartile of judges, doing a t-test for the difference in means, and selecting items that have high t-values (i.e., those that discriminates best between the top and bottom quartile responses). First, indexes often comprise of components that are very different from each other (e.g., income, education, and occupation in the SES index) and are measured in different ways. For example, a firm size ten employees is double that of a firm of size five, and the same can be said for a firm of 10,000 employees relative to a different firm of 5,000 employees. If someone says bad things about other racial groups, is that racial prejudice? The appropriate measure of central tendency of a nominal scale is mode, and neither the mean nor the median can be defined. Understand that “scales”, as discussed in this section, are a little different from “rating scales” discussed in the previous section. 2. Are there different levels of prejudice, such as high or low? Multidimensional constructs are measured as a formative combination of the multiple dimensions, even though each of the underlying dimensions may be measured using one or more reflective indicators. If women earn less than men for the same job, is that gender prejudice? Each item in the above Guttman scale has a weight (not indicated above) which varies with the intensity of that item, and the weighted combination of each response is used as an aggregate measure of an observation. In the context of survey research, a construct is the abstract idea, underlying theme, or subject matter that one wishes to measure using survey questions. Each of the underlying dimensions in this case must be measured separately, say, using different tests for mathematical and verbal ability, and the two scores can be combined, possibly in a weighted manner, to create an overall value for the academic aptitude construct. Monotonically increasing transformation (which retains the ranking) is allowed. If you have a proposition stating that “compassion is positively related to empathy”, you cannot test that proposition unless you can conceptually separate empathy from compassion and then empirically measure these two very similar constructs correctly. This typology can be used to categorise newspapers into one of four ‘ideal types’ (A through D), identify the distribution of newspapers across these ideal types, and perhaps even create a classificatory model for classifying newspapers into one of these four ideal types depending on other attributes. For instance, is ‘compassion’ the same thing as ‘empathy’ or ‘sentimentality’? In some cases, an older conceptual definition has been replaced by a newer one that works better. For instance, the word ‘prejudice’ conjures a certain image in our mind, however, we may struggle if we were asked to define exactly what the term meant. Thurstone’s equal-appearing scaling method. A concept is an idea that is generalizable or agreed-upon by many people. Third, create a rule or formula for calculating the index score. Measurement refers to careful, deliberate observations of the real world and is the essence of empirical research. Suppose a researcher is interested in measuring subjects' degrees of extraversion with a survey. The resulting matrix will resemble Table 6.6. These very different measures are combined to create an overall SES index score, using a weighted combination of “occupational education” (percentage of people in that occupation who had one or more year of college education) and “occupational income” (percentage of people in that occupation who earned more than a specific annual income). For instance, diamonds can scratch all other naturally occurring minerals on earth— hence diamond is the ‘hardest’ mineral. These items are then rated by judges on a 1 to 5 (or 1 to 7) rating scale as follows: 1 for strongly disagree with the concept, 2 for somewhat disagree with the concept, 3 for undecided, 4 for somewhat agree with the concept, and 5 for strongly agree with the concept. The. Guttman scale. However, scales typically involve a set of similar items that use the same rating scale (such as a five-point Likert scale). Examples include simple constructs such as a person’s weight, wind speed, and probably even complex constructs like self-esteem (if we conceptualise self-esteem as consisting of a single dimension, which of course, may be an unrealistic assumption). Nominal scales merely offer names or labels for different attribute values. The initial pool of candidate items (ideally 80 to 100 items) should be worded in a similar manner, for instance, by framing them as statements to which respondents may agree or disagree (and not as questions or other things). Unidimensional constructs are measured using reflective indicators (even though multiple reflective indicators may be used for measuring abstruse constructs such as self-esteem), while multidimensional constructs are measured as a formative combination of the multiple dimensions, even though each of the underlying dimensions may be measured using one or more reflective indicators. For instance, we often use the word “prejudice” and the word conjures a certain image in our mind; however, we may struggle if we were asked to define exactly what the term meant. Note that some of these scales may include multiple items, but all of these items attempt to measure the same underlying dimension. This can be done by grouping items with a common median, and then selecting the item with the smallest inter-quartile range within each median group. We now have a scale which looks like a ruler, with one item or statement at each of the 11 points on the ruler (and weighted as such). What is the goal? The process of creating an index is similar to that of a scale. Some of these decisions are: Should you use a scale, index, or typology? A reflective indicator is a measure that “reflects” an underlying construct. For example, a firm of size zero means that it has no employees or revenues. In this chapter, we offer an overview of the measurement process, commonly portrayed in terms of technical issues, such as the validity or the reliability. This is known as o_____. In this module, it will be assumed that all measures have an acceptable level of reliability and validity. Constructs help research and applied psychologists to summarize the complex array of observed behaviours, emotions, and thoughts that people produce in their day-to-day activities. Designed by Louis Guttman, this composite scale uses a series of items arranged in increasing order of intensity of the construct of interest, from least intense to most intense. However, the scale does not indicate the actual hardness of these minerals or even provides a relative assessment of their hardness. Gaylen N. Chandler and Douglas W. Lyon. For example, a firm of size 10 employees is double that of a firm of size 5, and the same can be said for a firm of 10,000 employees relative to a different firm of 5,000 employees. Perceived severity is one aspect of the health belief model. Since most scales employed in social science research are unidimensional, we will next three examine approaches for creating unidimensional scales. Multi-dimensional scales, on the other hand, employ different items or tests to measure each dimension of the construct separately, and then combine the scores on each dimension to create an overall measure of the multidimensional construct. This scale includes Likert items that are simply-worded statements to which respondents can indicate their extent of agreement or disagreement on a five or seven-point scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. The first decision to be made in operationalising a construct is to decide on the intended level of measurement. Guttman, L. A. Indicators operate at the empirical level, in contrast to constructs, which are conceptualised at the theoretical level. As in the Likert scale, the overall scale score may be a summation of individual item scores. This research describes efforts to develop and validate a multidimensional measure of the learning organization. Perceived severity refers to an individual’s belief about the seriousness of contracting an illness or disease, or the severity of the consequences of leaving it untreated. The statistical properties of these scales are shown in Table 6.1. A classic example in the natural sciences is Moh’s scale of mineral hardness, which characterises the hardness of various minerals by their ability to scratch other minerals. Our definition of such constructs is not based on any objective criterion, but rather on a shared (“inter-subjective”) agreement between our mental images (conceptions) of these constructs. Given the high level of subjectivity and imprecision inherent in social science constructs, we tend to measure most of those constructs (except a few demographic constructs such as age, gender, education, and income) using multiple indicators. For instance, if we conceptualize a person’s academic aptitude as consisting of two dimensions – mathematical and verbal ability – then academic aptitude is a multidimensional construct. Likewise, if you have a scale that asks respondents’ annual income using the following attributes (ranges): $0–10,000, $10,000–20,000, $20,000–30,000, and so forth, this is also an interval scale, because the mid-point of each range (i.e., $5,000, $15,000, $25,000, etc.) If an employment status item is modified to allow for more than two possible values (e.g., unemployed, full-time, part-time, and retired), it is no longer binary, but still remains a nominal scaled item. To understand how these items were derived, refer to the ‘Scaling’ section later on in this chapter. If … If churchgoers believe that non-believers … Binary scales can also employ other values, such as male or female for gender, full-time or part-time for employment status, and so forth. Research objectives typically call for the measurement of constructs. Sophisticated transformation such as positive similar (e.g., multiplicative or logarithmic) are also allowed. First, conceptualize (define) the index and its constituent components. More formally, scaling is a branch of measurement that involves the construction of measures by associating qualitative judgments about unobservable constructs with quantitative, measurable metric units. Thurstone also created two additional methods of building unidimensional scales—the method of successive intervals and the method of paired comparisons—which are both very similar to the method of equal-appearing intervals, other than the way judges are asked to rate the data. Note that many variables in social science research are qualitative, even when represented in a quantitative manner. A six-item Likert scale for measuring employment self-esteem, I’m proud of my relationship with my supervisor at work, I can tell that other people at work are glad to have me there, I feel like I make a useful contribution at work. Responses are obtained on a seven point … This method starts with a clear conceptual definition of the construct of interest. Construct measurement in management research. A scalogram analysis is used to examine how closely a set of items corresponds to the idea of cumulativeness. As with Thurstone’s method, the Likert method also starts with a clear definition of the construct of interest, and using a set of experts to generate about 80 to 100 potential scale items. Scales and indexes generate ordinal measures of unidimensional constructs. A well-known example of an index is the consumer price index (CPI), which is computed every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Quantitative data can be analyzed using quantitative data analysis techniques, such as regression or structural equation modeling, while qualitative data require qualitative data analysis techniques, such as coding. For instance, one can create a political typology of newspapers based on their orientation toward domestic and foreign policy, as expressed in their editorial columns, as shown in Figure 6.2. How many scale attributes should you use (e.g., 1–10; 1–7; −3 to +3)? In the classical model of test validity, construct validity is one of three main types of validity evidence, alongside content validity and criterion validity. Management and Organizations; Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review. How do you wish to label the scale attributes (especially for semantic differential scales)? The statistical technique also estimates a score for each item that can be used to compute a respondent’s overall score on the entire set of items. Examples include gender (two values: male or female), industry type (manufacturing, financial, agriculture, etc. Likert method assumes equal weights for all items, and hence, respondent’s responses to each item can be summed to create a composite score for that respondent. Indicators representing constructs at the empirical level are called v_____. These scales are called ‘ratio’ scales because the ratios of two points on these measures are meaningful and interpretable. Guttman scale. The selection process is done by having each judge independently rate each item on a scale from 1 to 11 based on how closely, in their opinion, that item reflects the intended construct (1 represents extremely unfavorable and 11 represents extremely favorable). In published research, however, several examples that treat the measures and the construct in accordance with cell-3 can be found. For example, if religiosity is defined as a construct that measures how religious a person is, then attending religious services may be a reflective indicator of religiosity. The previous section discussed how to measure respondents’ responses to predesigned items or indicators belonging to an underlying construct. It involves the operation to construct variables, and the development and application of instruments or tests to quantify these variables [Kimberlin & Winterstein, 2008]. Likert’s summative scaling method. Because items appear equally throughout the entire 11-pointrange of the scale, this technique is called an equal-appearing scale. Measurement is the assigning of numbers to observations in order to quantify phenomena. If you have a proposition stating that ‘compassion is positively related to empathy’, you cannot test that proposition unless you can conceptually separate empathy from compassion and then empirically measure these two very similar constructs correctly. Lastly, validate the index score using existing or new data. The conceptualisation process is all the more important because of the imprecision, vagueness, and ambiguity of many social science constructs. ). MEASURES OF MARKETING CONSTRUCTS Gilber A. Churchill (1979) Introduced by Azra Dedic in the course of “Measurement in Business Research” Introduction Measurements are “rules for assigning numbers to objects to represent qualities of attributes”. For instance, students’ rankings in class say nothing about their actual GPAs or test scores, or how they well performed relative to one another. Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices. For instance, if an unobservable theoretical construct such as socioeconomic status is defined as the level of family income, it can be operationalized using an indicator that asks respondents the question: what is your annual family income? Some studies have used a ‘forced choice approach’ to force respondents to agree or disagree with the Likert statement by dropping the neutral mid-point and using an even number of values, but this is not a good strategy because some people may indeed be neutral to a given statement, and the forced choice approach does not provide them the opportunity to record their neutral stance.