What is “Scaling” in Research?
scaling is an activity of creating continuous values for the objects as per the importance of measured characteristics they possess this can be done in two ways viz.,
(i) making a judgment about some characteristic of an individual and then placing them directly on a scale that has been defined in terms of that characteristic, and
(ii) constructing questionnaires in such a way that the score of an individual’s responses assigns him a place on a scale.
Scaling Techniques or Measurement:
A measurement method is a method of placing respondents in the continuation of a gradual change in a given number of values, symbols, or numbers based on the characteristics of an object in terms of defined rules. All measurement methods are based on four pillars, namely, order, definition, distance, and origin. Marketing research is very reliable in measurement techniques, without which market analysis can be done.
Brief Details about Scaling:
It may be stated here that a scale is a continuum, consisting of the highest point in terms of some characteristic e.g., preference, favourableness, etc., and the lowest point along with several intermediate points between these two extreme points. These scale-point positions are so related to each other that when the first point happens to be the highest point, the second point indicates a higher degree in terms of a given characteristic as compared to the third point and the third point indicates a higher degree as compared to the fourth and so on. Numbers for measuring the distinctions of degree in the attitudes/ opinions are, thus, assigned to individuals corresponding to their scale positions.
All this is better understood when we talk about scaling technique(s). Hence the term ‘scaling’ is applied to the procedures for attempting to determine quantitative measures of subjective abstract concepts. Scaling has been defined as a “procedure for the assignment of numbers (or other symbols) to a property of objects in order to impart some of the characteristics of numbers to the properties in question.”
For example; the object for male and female characteristics is assigned as 1 to one character and the object with the opposite characteristics is assigned the number ‘0’.
