BESC 3020 Chp 6

Which kind of concepts needs composite indicators?

Household income. Complex and multi-dimensional

Find examples of indexes and scales in our daily life.

Stocks and SAT/ACT

When indexes and scales can be used?

When you measure a simple concept indicator is not adequate -Both indexes and scales are composite measures of concepts or variables. The terms index and scale are typically interchangeable in social science literature. And researchers often use the term scale to refer to both indexes and scales. denomination - In social research, although both indexes and scales are intended as ordinal measures, scales typically satisfy this intention better than indexes do. Index is accumulative (different parts have EQUAL WEIGHT)— just add all parts up. Scale is weighted and give DIFFERENT WEIGHTS to different components or parts.

Likert scale:

a measurement technique based on the use of standardized answer categories ("strongly agree," "agree," " neither agree nor disagree", "disagree," and "strongly disagree") for the relative intensity of different indicators (or items). Lickert scale's standardized answer format is one of the frequently used in survey research.

Define and find examples of typology.

A typology is a nominal composite measure often used in social research. 2. Typologies may be used effectively as independent variables, but interpretation is difficult when they are used as dependent variables. 3. Examples of typology Types of crime Crime against the person Crime against property Organized crime White-collar crime Corporate crime Victimless crime Hate crime Cyber crime Types of family Nuclear family Extended family Blended family Single-parent family

Discuss the interchangeable use of the terms index and scale in social science literature.

Both indexes and scales are composite measures of concepts or variables. The terms index and scale are typically interchangeable in social science literature. And researchers often use the term scale to refer to both indexes and scales. Index is accumulative (different parts have EQUAL WEIGHT)— just add all parts up. Scale is weighted and give DIFFERENT WEIGHTS to different components or parts.

Explain Bogardus social distance scale.

It is a device for measuring the varying degrees (in increasing intensity) to which a person would be willing to associate with a given class (category, group) of people. The scale asks people the extent to which they would be accepting of each group (a score of 1.00 for a group is taken to indicate no social distance): As close relatives by marriage (score 1.00) As my close personal friends (2.00) As neighbors on the same street (3.00) As co-workers in the same occupation (4.00) As citizens in my country (5.00) As only visitors in my country (6.00) Would exclude from my country (7.00) The Bogardus Social Distance Scale is a cumulative scale (a Guttman scale), because agreement with any item implies agreement with all preceding items. The scale has been criticized as too simple because the social distance in intimate relations may not be to attitudes concerning far-away contacts, such as citizens or visitors in my country.

Semantic differential

It is a technique that uses a 7-point or 5-point scale between two opposite positions or extremes (e.g., "very positive" and "very negative", "favorable" and "unfavorable", "simple" and "complex", etc.) Examples: Would you say our website is: (7) Very Attractive (6) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) Very Unattractive

Guttman scale

s a method of discovering and using the empirical intensity structure among several indicators of a given concept. In surveys, a subset of the questions can be arranged in a rank order using a Guttman scale, so that an individual who agrees with an item of higher rank-order also agrees with items of lower rank-order. For example, a series of items could be: (a) "I love Hyundai Sonata" (b) "I am willing to buy a Hyundai Sonata" (c) "I am willing to test drive a Hyundai Sonata" (d) "I am willing to visit a Hyundai dealership" Agreement with (b) implies agreement with the lower-order items (c) and (d); agreement with item (a) implies agreement with all the lower-order items (b), (c) and (d). Bogardus social distance scale is one type of Guttman scale specifically designed to study inter-group relations.