Measurement in Marketing

1Characteristics and Main Types of Measurement

OBJECTIVES OF THE CHAPTER.–

This chapter offers a set of prerequisites for better progress in the operationalization of a construct by means of attitude scales. Its objectives are to:

• – provide a better understanding of the notion of measurement and some connected concepts;
• – present the specificities of the basic scales (nominal, ordinal, interval and proportional);
• – highlight the main characteristics of different scales for measuring attitudes/opinions;
• – present some determinants that allow the choice of an attitude scale format.

1.1. Introduction

The issue of measuring variables, such as perceptions, attitudes and human preferences, is of undeniable importance. Indeed, one of the major difficulties of research is to match the measurement to the object to be measured. The questionnaire is often used as an information gathering tool to scientifically apprehend a multitude of objects and abstract concepts. Often it consists of closed-ended questions in order to translate, for example, a theoretical notion, an opinion or the characteristics of a product into an empirical assessment by assigning it a numerical rating and thus proposing a measure. The evaluation of a brand, an attitude, an opinion, etc., can thus be done through a multitude of ways to formulate questions which give rise to a variety of measurement approaches.

In this chapter, we will try to highlight some fundamental concepts associated with measurement. ...