Measurement Attitude - Marketing Research

Measurement Attitude Measurement attitude Attitudes: are mental states Individuals/consumers use them to structure the way they perceive their environment Also, individuals use them to guide the way they respond to the environment/stimuli (ie, behavior) Properties - They fo...

Measurement Attitude Measurement attitude Attitudes: are mental states Individuals/consumers use them to structure the way they perceive their environment Also, individuals use them to guide the way they respond to the environment/stimuli (ie, behavior) Properties - They form perceptions and attitudes that can be positive or negative - Attitude can be used as predictors of behaviors - Psychological construct: a variable that cannot be directly observed or measured - Can't be observed or measured directly, it is inferred Components of attitude Do we need to measure Attitude? Used to to understand and influence behavior since: Attitudes lead to behavior, attitudes are used to explain behavior Higher accuracy when asking questions on attitudes than observing and interpreting behavior Capacity for diagnosis and explanation  Measure the perceived strengths and weaknesses of competitive alternatives/ or what is acceptable or unacceptable Concept of Measurement Standardized process of assigning numbers or other symbols to quantify certain characteristics of objects of interests, according to pre-specified rules for representing quantities or qualities Concept of Scaling Process of creating a continuum on which objects are located or situated according to the amount of the measured characteristics or attributes they possess Examples of Measurement & Scaling Measuring the Weather Temperature Object? - Weather Attribute/Quality - Temperature How do we measure? - Kelvin scale - Celsius scale - Fahrenheit scale  Object? - Consumer Attribute/ Quality? - Intent to buy How do we measure? - Likelihood to buy scale - Willingness to buy How to capture attitudes? Nominal Scale Objects are assigned to mutually exclusive, labeled categories No necessary relationships among categories exists - No ordering or spacing are implied Only possible arithmetic operation is the counting of each category Choosing a category to which you belong in Ex. Ordinal Scale Ranks objects or arranges them in order by some common variable There is relationship between objects Does not provide information on how much difference there is between objects Arithmetic operations are limited to statistics such as media or mode Examples Interval Scale Numbers represent equal increments of the attribute being measuring Differences can be compared Entire range of statistical operations can be employed for analysis Ex. Ratio Scale Naturally defined zero point Possible to say how many times greater or smaller one object is than other Only scale that permits comparisons of absolute magnitude Ex. Summary of Measurement Scales Scales: Typical Marketing Applications Nominal - Attitude scale: dichotomous, yes or no, buy do not buy - Marketing applications: categorization (sex, geographical area, social class) Ordinal - Attitude scale: Comparative, Rank Order, itemized category, pair comparison - Marketing Application: rankings (preference, class standing) Interval - Attitude Scale: Likert, thurstone, associative semantic-differential - Marketing applications: index numbers, attitude measures Ratio - Attitude scale: certain scale with special instruction such as constant sum scale - Marketing Application: Sales, income, units produced, costs, age, quantities Classification of Attitude Scales Attitude Rating Scales Rating scales: many ways to present a respondent with a continuum of numbered categories that represent the range of possible attitude levels Two Broad types 1. Single item scales: only one item (statement) to measure the attribute/ quality  2. Multiple item scales: implies more than one item is needed (statement) to measure the attribute or quality\ Single-Item vs Multiple item scale example Measuring Loyalty How likely are you to recommend our brand? Item 1: how likely are you to come back to our store in the future? Item 2: how likely are you to purchase our products in the future Item 3: how likely are you to recommend our brand? Classification of Single Item Scales Item-Category Scale It’s the most widely used single item scale Respondent selected from a limited number of categories Pictorial Scale Various categories of the scale are depicted pictorially Commonly used types of picture - Thermometer and funny faces Format must be comprehensible to respond and allow accurate response Rank-order Scale Respondents compare two or more items and rank them The respondent should have knowledge of all options so that the comparison can be performed accurately Order of the choice may affect the results (random ordering is used in online surveys Limitations: Requires attention and mental effort. Not adequate for more than 5 objects Paired-comparison Scale Ask respondents to choose one of the two items in a set based on a specific criterion or attribute Advantages - Easier to select than to rank a series of items - Bias from ordering of item removed Disadvantages - The number of paired combinations increases geometrically (for n objects n(n-1)/2 comparisons required) - In real sceneries, usually more than 2 options are required to be compared Constant-Sum Scale Ask the respondent to divide a given number of points, typically 100, among two or more attributes, based on the relative importance Advantages - Relative distance between rankings can be determined - Both rank and relative magnitude can be compared - “Equal” value can be given  Disadvantages - Respondents sometimes have difficulty allocating points accurately for higher number of categories Designing Single Item Scale # of scale categories - It depends on the format of the interview/survey and the nature of the object Strength of the anchors - The stronger the anchors, the less likely respondents are use to extreme values Balance of the scale - When asking respondents to take a side, balances scale might give an easy escape to respondents Labeling of the categories - Labeling all the categories/choices reduces ambiguity. However, it is more taxing on the respondent Multiple Item Scales Used to measure attitudes toward complex objects with many facets - Loyalty- attitudinal loyalty or behavioral loyalty Developed to measure a sample of beliefs toward the attitude objects and combine the set of answers into an average/sum score - Detects attributes determining consumer’s overall attitudes Classification of Multiple-Item Scales Types of multiple scale items  1. Likert scale 2. Thurstone scales 3. Semantic Differential Scales Semantic differential scales Used to describe the set of beliefs that comprise a person’s image of an organization or brand Examines the strength and weakness of a concept described by several attributes\ Respondents rate each attribute object, by the extreme or opposite attributes Most SDS have 5 or 7 points which allows for a neutral position Advantages - Quick and efficient way to examine brand personality or image, attitudes toward and advertisement, a celebrity endorser, or retail store - Score for each feature can be summed up for each respondent Disadvantages - Halo effect ➔ Overall impression dominates the rating or ➔ Location of previous judgments on the scale effects subsequent judgements ➔ Ordering effect Examples Likert Scales Respondent specifies a level of agreement or disagreement with statements or express either a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the concept under study Each of the item (statements) measures some aspect of a single common factor Likert scales are usually 5 or 7 or 11 point scales producing interval data Likert scales often include both reversed and non-reversed items Advantages - The scores on the individual items can be summed up/averaged to produce a total score for the respondent Disadvantages - The favorable/unfavorable attitude toward each item has equal weight - Does not provide information on the more influential items (severe symptoms) Ex. Thurstone Scales It compensates for the limitation of the Likert scale in that the strength of the individual item is taken into account in computing the attitude score A 2 stage process with the first stage involving getting opinions of a group of judges (subject matter experts) which determines the final scale items and corresponding weights and the second stage involving collecting the ratings from target respondent  Advantages - Easy to administer and requires a minimum of instructions Disadvantages - Being a stage 2 stage process it is time consuming and expensive to construct - The scales values and weights themselves may depend on the attitude of the original judges - Complex scoring system Ex. Designing Multiple Item Scales Accuracy Of Attitude Measurement Validity: does the scale measure what it is supposed to? Reliability: Does the result repeat across different comparable population Sensitivity: does the rating discriminate between respondents with opposed attitudes? Generalizability: Can the scale be applied to different research settings or situations Relevancy: relevance= reliability * validity Can scales be generalized across countries? If scale is not properly adjusted then it can be affected Scales across the Globe Responses can be affected by - Low literacy and educational levels - Culture, semantic differential scale is closest to pan cultural scale - Adapting response formats, particular their calibration, for specific countries and cultures