Research Methodology

Topics of Discussion

• Variable Measurement

Measurement of Variables• Introduction

– Business research deal with various social, psychological and behavioral variables. Their measurement is one of the vital stage in the research process. It is a complex and demanding task. Unless the variables are measured in some way, a researcher will not be able to test the framed hypotheses and find answer to complex research issues.

Definition• It can be defined as the assignment of

numerals to objects or events according to rules. It is nothing but assigning numbers to represent properties of a concept. For example: Applicants can be classified on the basis of their sex. The rule is assign ‘0’ if female and assign ‘1’ if male.

Types of Variables and Measurement Problem

• Broadly the variables can be divided into two types:

• Objective Variables:– Possible for clear and accurate

measurement• Subjective Variables:

– Not possible for clear and accurate measure. These kind of variables should be measured indirectly.

Variables• A variable is simply a symbol or a

concept that can assume any one of a set of values. The concept of variable is extremely important in measurement because it sets the limits on the range of values a measurement may take

• Example: Purchase : Can take 1 for purchase, 0 for no purchase. Satisfaction can take infinite number of values

Types of Variables• Dependent Variables• Independent Variables• Moderating Variables• Mediating Variables

Dependent Variable• It is the variable of primary interest of the

researcher. The goal of the research is to explain its variability or predict it, when other variables that influence this variable.

• Example: A manager is concerned that the sales of a new product is not a as high as he had expected. Here, the sales is the dependent variable, since it the main factor of interest to the manager.

Independent Variable• An independent variable is one that influences

the dependent variable in either positive or negative way. The variance in the dependent variable is accounted for by the independent variable.

• Example: The research study shows that the low sales of the new product is due to the unexpected price reduction of the substitute products by the competitors. Here, the price of the substitute products influences the sales of the product. Hence it is independent variable.

Moderating Variable• Sometimes a relationship does not generalize to

everyone; therefore, researchers often use moderator variables to show how the relationship changes across the levels of an additional variable. For example, a research believe that relationship between social network motive and level of knowledge sharing is differ between males and females. Hence the research introduced gender as a moderating variable.

Intervening Variable• Sometimes we want to understand the process or

variables through which one variable affects another variable. This brings us to the idea of intervening variables (also called mediator or mediating variables). Intervening variables are variables that occur between two other variables. For example, tissue damage is an intervening variable in the smoking and lung cancer relationship. We can use arrows (which mean causes or affects) and draw the relationship that includes an intervening variable like this:

• Organizational knowledge strategy organizational outcome.

Measurement of Subjective Variables

• Despite the lack of objective measuring device to measure the subjective variables, there are ways of tapping the subjective feelings and perceptions of individuals. One technique is to reduce the abstract concepts into observable behavior and characteristics. This is called as operationalizing the concepts.

Conceptualization

– We want to speak of abstract things – “intelligence”; “ability to cope with stress”; “life satisfaction”; “happiness”.

– We cannot research these things until we know exactly what they are.

– Everyday language often vague and unspecified meanings. Conceptualization is to specify exactly what we mean and don’t mean by the terms we use in our research.

Operational definitions

• Specifying exactly what we are going to observe, and how we will do it. Turn your variable into a directly measurable thing

• It is a description of the “operations” that we will undertake to measure a concept

Operational Definition of a Concept

• operational definition– is a procedure for measuring and defining a construct, indirect

method of measuring something that can not be measured directly

– an operational definition specifies a measurement procedure for measuring an external, observable behavior and uses the resulting measurements as a definition and a measurement of the construct

– e.g. IQ test is an operational definition for the construct intelligence

– You don’t always have to come up with your own operational definition of the construct, you can use some conventional measurement procedure from previous studies

• Operationally defining a concept is done by looking at the behavioral dimensions or properties denoted by the concept. These are then translated into observable and measurable elements so as to form an index of measurement of the concept.

Elements• Definite meaning to a concept will specify

one or more indictors what we have in mind. An indicator is a sign of the presence or absence of the concept we are studying with the unit of analysis. An indicator is called as a element. These elements are grouped into different specifiable aspects of a concept. A specifiable aspect is called as a dimension of the concept.

Elements: Example• Indicator of the Concept Learning:

– Answering questions correctly– Give appropriate examples

• (These two indicators can be grouped as a dimension called understanding aspect of learning)

– Solve practical problem– Integrate with other relevant material

• (These two indicators can be grouped as dimension called Application aspect of learning)

Dimensions• Dimension:

– It is a specifiable aspect of a concept. For example, understanding, recall and application are some of the specifiable aspects of the concept of learning.• A concept can be subdivided into

several clearly defined dimensions.

Basis of Measurement

• Since the measurement is based on numbers, the properties of numbers are relevant to measurement. The properties are a). Identity b). Rank order c). Additivity (additivity implies all the four fundamental operations of addition, substation, multiplication and division.

Levels of Measurement• Based on the properties, the following

four levels of measurement is possible:

Levels and Characteristics• Levels• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Interval

• Ratio

• Characteristics• No order, no

distance, or no origin• Order, but no

distance or origin• Both order and

distance, but no origin

• Order, distance and origin

Nominal Measurement• This is the simplest and lowest level of

measurement. It is useful for categorizing variables into sub-classes by assigning a numerals of any other symbols to mutually exclusive sub-classes. For example the variable of sex is classified as males ‘1’ and females ‘2’ or as ‘M’ and ‘F’. Nominally scaled numbers only act as a labels for the classification. Therefore, we cannot perform any arithmetic operations on these numbers because they only indicate the presence or absence of some characteristics.

Scales of Measurement: Nominal Scale

• Sometimes numbers are used to designate category membership

• Example: Country of Origin1 = United States 3 = Canada2 = Mexico 4 = Other

• However, in this case, it is important to keep in mind that the numbers do not have numeric implications; they are simply convenient labels

Ordinal Measurement• In this level of measurement, objects or

persons are order by rank. Ranks are assigned in ascending or descending orders. This level of information contains all the information of a nominal scale plus some relative means of ordering. Moreover, this measurement is useful to perform some statistical analysis, like, rank correlation, median, and non-parametric tests.

Scales of Measurement: Ordinal• Ordinal: Designates an ordering; quasi-ranking• Does not assume that the intervals between numbers

are equal• Example:

finishing place in a race (first place, second place)

1 hour 2 hours 3 hours 4 hours 5 hours 6 hours 7 hours 8 hours

1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place

Interval Measurement• This measurement has the powers of nominal

and ordinal measurements plus one additional strength – the concept of equality of interval. But the numbers on an interval scale cannot be multiplies or divided, since the scale does not have any true zero. Thermometer is a typical example for interval level of measurement. More powerful statistical techniques can be used with interval scales are, measures of central tendency, dispersion, correlation and some test of significance.

Ratio Measurement• This is the highest and most ideal level of

measurement. This is suitable for measuring properties which have natural zero points. Since there is an absolute natural zero, all arithmetic operations including multiplication and division are possible. Examples are weight, height, distance, money value, population counts, rate of return and so on. This measurement is suitable for all statistical and mathematical treatments.

Construction of Measurement Tool

• Operational definition of a concept helps to develop a measurement tool of the variable. A set of questions or scale may be used depending on the nature of the element to be measured. It should help the researcher to measure the concept objectively with perfection. The various elements (indicators) can be combined into a single composite scale.