Deck 6: Indexes, scales, and Typologies

Question 1

Which of the following statements about typologies is FALSE?

A)They are nominal composite measures.
B)It is easy to analyze a typology as an independent variable.
C)It is easy to analyze a typology as a dependent variable.
D)They are often used when researchers wish to summarize the intersection of two or more variables.
E)Typologies are developed using statistical procedures and scientific methods.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Professor Swanson developed an index of marital happiness.Several items in Swanson's questionnaire were not part of the index (i.e.,"How many serious quarrels or arguments have you had with your spouse in the last year?" "If you had your life to live over,do you think you would marry the same person?").Swanson compared the index score of marital happiness with these questions.Swanson was doing

A)index validation.
B)item analysis.
C)external validation.
D)index validation and item analysis.
E)index validation and external validation.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT necessary for a composite measure to have?

A)nominal measures
B)face validity
C)unidimensionality
D)variance
E)indicators to be related

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The following items and scoring scheme were taken from the Minnesota Survey of Opinions.The four items were part of a series of items designed to assess attitudes toward education.In the index
SA=strongly agree,A=agree,U=undecided,
D=disagree,and SD=strongly disagree
1)A MAN CAN LEARN MORE BY WORKING FOUR YEARS THAN BY GOING TO SCHOOL.
SA(5)A(4)U(3)D(2)SD(1)
2)THE MORE EDUCATION A MAN HAS,THE BETTER HE IS ABLE TO ENJOY LIFE.
SA(1)A(2)U(3)D(4)SD(5)
3)EDUCATION HELPS A PERSON TO USE HIS LEISURE TIME TO BETTER ADVANTAGE.
SA(1)A(2)U(3)D(4)SD(5)
4)EDUCATION IS OF NO HELP IN GETTING A JOB TODAY.
SA(5)A(4)U(3)D(2)SD(1)
These items illustrate a ____ question format:

A) Likert scale
B) Thurstone scale
C) Guttman scale
D) semantic differential scale
E) Bogardus social distance scale

Question 5

A ____ scale is a measurement technique for determining the willingness of people to participate in social relations-of varying degrees of closeness-with other kinds of people.

A)Bogardus
B)Guttman
C)Thurstone
D)Semantic differential
E)Likert

Question 6

In Guttman scaling,the percentage of correct predictions performed in the scale is its:

A)face validity.
B)correlation.
C)coefficient of reproducibility.
D)alpha measurement.
E)lambda.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a frequent reason for the use of composite measures in research?

A)the researcher is seldom able to develop in advance single indicators of complex concepts.
B)a single data item might not have enough categories to provide a range of variation.
C)composite measures give a more comprehensive and accurate indication of a given variable.
D)they are efficient data reduction devices.
E)they simplify interpretation for both the researcher and the reader.

Question 8

Professor Thames used a Guttman scale on his data set that he had seen published in a major journal.Thames was upset because the items did not scale on his data.Confused,he asked for your help.You should tell him

A)the article that appeared in the journal was probably in error.
B)he should recheck his scaling techniques because he probably made an error.
C)items may form a Guttman scale in one data but not in another.
D)it was probably not a very good scale.
E)the article that appeared in the journal was probably in error and therefore it was probably not a very good scale.

Question 9

For inclusion into an index,two variables should have what kind of relationship?

A)perfect bivariate relationship.
B)strong bivariate relationship.
C)weak bivariate relationship.
D)no bivariate relationship.
E)negative bivariate relationship.

Question 10

Given the following patterns for a Guttman scale on life satisfaction,the coefficient of reproducibility is: (Note: a + = "Yes" and a - = "No")

A) 1.00
B) .95
C) .90
D) .85
E) cannot compute from the information given

Question 11

Giving a set of judges a large number of items that are thought to be indicators of a given variable and asking them to estimate how strong an indicator of the variable each item is,is a technique used in constructing a ____ scale.

A)Bogardus
B)Guttman
C)Thurstone
D)Semantic differential
E)Likert

Question 12

When a researcher is selecting items for a composite index,which of the following should be kept in mind?

A)Each item should have face validity.
B)A composite measure should be unidimensional.
C)There should be concern about the amount of variance provided by the items.
D)Each item should have face validity and the composite measure should be unidimensional.
E)Each item should have face validity, the composite measure should be unidimensional, and there should be concern about the amount of variance provided by the items.

Question 13

Using Likert-type scale items,Professor Wong developed an index to assess job morale.Wong administered the index to 2,000 workers and found that a few of the responses were missing.Which of the following strategies would be BEST for Wong to use?

A)exclude the cases that contained the missing data from the analysis.
B)assign the middle value to cases with missing data.
C)analyze the cases that had missing data to interpret their meaning.
D)assign values at random.
E)give up and start over again.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)Be wary of including items in a composite measure that are not related to one another empirically.
B)You should probably drop any item that is not related to several other items in your composite measure.
C)If items are unrelated it is unlikely that they measure the same variable.
D)You must check the bivariate correlations between all items that you plan to include in your composite measure.
E)face validity does not need to be considered.

Question 15

After reading a journal article on political liberalism,Tony noticed that his data set contained the same items that the author had used to form a scale on political liberalism.So,Tony combined the items and applied them to his data.He was surprised when they did not form a scale.Confused,he asked you for an explanation.Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?

A)Items may scale in one sample but not another.
B)Do not assume that a given set of items form a scale because they scaled in an earlier study.
C)The combination of several data items resulting in a scale depends on the particular sample of observations under study.
D)He probably made a mistake and should recheck his calculations.
E)Items may scale in one sample but not another and therefore he should not assume that a given set of items form a scale because they scaled in an earlier study.

Question 16

The following items measure the extent to which Americans are willing to associate with extraterrestrials.
1)It's OK if my child marries an extraterrestrial.
2)It's OK to have an extraterrestrial for a friend.
3)It's OK to have an extraterrestrial living on the block.
4)It's OK to have an extraterrestrial living in my community.
These items illustrate a

A) Guttman scale.
B) Bogardus social distance scale.
C) Thurstone scale.
D) Likert scale.
E) typology.

Question 17

Professor Duncan administered a questionnaire containing the following items:
Please tell me how you feel about your supervisor's leadership style on the following three items:

Duncan was using a

A)Semantic differential scale.
B)Thurstone scale.
C)Bogardus social distance scale.
D)Guttman scale.
E)Likert scale.

Question 18

The coefficient of reproducibility for a Guttman scale should be at least

A) 1.00.
B) .90.
C) .80.
D) .70.
E) It doesn't matter.

Question 19

Which of the following do indexes and scales have in common?

A)They are interval measures.
B)Their attributes form an intensity structure.
C)They rank-order the units of analysis in terms of specific variables.
D)Their scores represent a pattern of response.
E)They are nominal measures.

Question 20

If an index fails to predict strongly the external validation items,then

A)the index does not adequately measure the variable in question.
B)the validation items do not adequately measure the variable.
C)either the index does not adequately measure the variable in question OR the validation items do not adequately measure the variable.
D)the index does not adequately measure the variable in question AND the validation items do not adequately measure the variable.
E)you should attempt to use the index anyway to see what will happen.

Question 21

Yellow Bird wanted to develop a measure of satisfaction with school life using items to reflect the various dimensions of school life (academics,social life,residence halls).She wanted to have each item measure intensity of feeling by using such categories as "strongly agree" and "strongly disagree." Which approach is she using?

A)Thurstone scaling
B)Likert scaling
C)semantic differential
D)Bogardus social distance scale
E)Guttman scale

Question 22

What are the two decisions to be made in deciding how to score an index?

A)how many items and the desirable range of index scores
B)the desirable range of index scores and the assignment of scores for each response
C)the assignment of scores for each response and which statistics to use
D)which statistics to use and how many items
E)number of items and assignment of scores to each item

Question 23

Othello wanted to develop a scale to measure love that involved having respondents choose between two opposite positions,using qualifiers to bridge the distance between the two opposites.It would be best to use the

A)Thurstone scale.
B)Likert scale.
C)Bogardus social distance scale.
D)semantic differential.
E)Guttman scale

Question 24

Item analysis is used for

A)assessing index reliability.
B)index validation.
C)improving item wording.
D)determining whether to use a scale or an index.
E)counting how many items are important

Question 25

Freda wants to develop a measure of support for the legalization of marijuana such that she can assign scores to patterns of responses,such that some items reflect a relatively weak degree of the variable while others reflect something stronger.Which one of the following should she use?

A)index
B)scale
C)reliability
D)validity
E)nominal scale

Question 26

Gunnar developed a scale to measure attitudes toward feminism.He discovered a pattern of responses among his items such that if he knew the scale score (the number of items someone agreed with),he could accurately predict which items that person agreed with.Which scale type did he use?

A)Thurstone scaling
B)Likert scaling
C)semantic differential
D)Guttman scaling
E)Bogardus social distance scale

Question 27

Edgar decides to validate his index of marital happiness by determining which people subsequently divorced.Edgar is using

A)internal reliability.
B)external reliability.
C)internal validation.
D)external validation.
E)external generalizability

Question 28

Likert scales are designed to be ______ in measurement.

A)nominal
B)ratio
C)internal
D)ordinal
E)It varies; they can be designed to be any level of measurement.

Question 29

A Thurstone scale was constructed to measure creativity.The scale scores ranged from 1 to 13.If the scale was properly constructed we could conclude that

A)a person with a score of 6 was three times as creative as a person with a score of 2.
B)a person with a score of 6 was more creative than a person with a score of 5.
C)a person with a score of 5 was half as creative as someone with a score of 10.
D)a person with a score of 6 was three times as creative as a person with a score of 2 and a person with a score of 5 was half as creative as someone with a score of 10.
E)a person with a score of 6 was three times as creative as a person with a score of 1.

Question 30

Surrisi wants to develop a scale measuring love and wants to include a few dozen judges,or experts,to rate each of her items in terms of how strongly each indicator measures love.She should use

A)Thurstone scaling.
B)Likert scaling.
C)Semantic differential.
D)Bogardus social distance scale.
E)Guttman scale

Question 31

Serrina wanted to analyze the relationship between two variables-school type (public,private,or charter)and school location (urban,suburban,or rural)-in her study of student values to look for identifiable patterns.Which approach should she use?

A)semantic differential
B)typology
C)coefficient of reproducibility
D)scale types
E)index construction

Question 32

Which one of the following is NOT one of the reasons composite measures are frequently used?

A)Many variables social scientists study have no clear and unambiguous single indicators.
B)A single data item might not have enough categories to provide the desired range of variation.
C)Indexes and scales are efficient devices for data analysis.
D)Certain theories and paradigms require composite measures.
E)There are too many indicators for efficient analysis.

Question 33

Rosamaria added together five survey questions that all measured fear of crime,but with different dimensions such as media exposure,personal experience,and contact with others.What has she created?

A) a response.
B) an index.
C) a scale.
D) a correlation.
E) a typology.

Question 34

Why should you perform bivariate and multivariate analyses of the items in your index?

A)to make them longer
B)to help you develop new items
C)to see how they correspond to each other to decide which ones should be included
D)to see how they differ from each other to make sure you include different items
E)your results would be invalid otherwise

Question 35

In addition to using two opposite positions,the semantic differential also uses

A)a similarity position in the middle.
B)a Thurstone-like rating process.
C)qualifiers in between the opposites.
D)the rating form used in the Bogardus social distance scale.
E)a "magnetic" pole to differentiate the opposites.

Question 36

Which one of the following is NOT a suggested way to handle missing data in index construction?

A)If there are relatively few cases with missing data, you may decide to exclude them from the construction of the index and the analysis.
B)It is always best to simply exclude any cases with missing data.
C)You may sometimes have grounds for treating missing data as one of the available responses.
D)A careful analysis of missing data may yield an interpretation of their meaning.
E)Evaluate why data is missing before making a decision.

Question 37

External validation is to internal validation as prediction is to

A)validity.
B)reliability.
C)the connection between the composite index and individual items.
D)the best strategy for handling missing data.
E)evaluation

Question 38

Scales and indexes are which level of measurement?

A)nominal
B)ordinal
C)interval
D)ratio
E)They can be at all levels of measurement.

Question 39

Nick wanted to develop a scale to determine how willing people are to connect at various levels with people with disabilities.Nick should use the

A)Bogardus social distance scale.
B)Thurstone scale.
C)Likert scale.
D)semantic differential.
E)Guttman scale

Question 40

Which type of validity is used to select items for an index?

A)face
B)criterion-related
C)construct
D)content
E)convergent

Question 41

A type of composite measure that have several items that have a logical or empirical structure to them is a

A)scale.
B)index.
C)typology
D)equation.
E)survey.

Question 42

Which of the following does NOT need to be specified before the creation of an index?

A)face validity.
B)unidimensionality.
C)variance.
D)external validation.
E)bivariate or multivariate relationships.

Question 43

As Jaime is combining measurements to create his composite measurement examining test anxiety amongst college students,he discovered that some were stronger indicators of anxiety than others.He has created a(n)

A) Likert scale.
B) Guttman scale.
C) Thurstone scale.
D) typology.
E) semantic differential scale.

Question 44

If two items in an index are perfectly correlated,both of them should be eliminated from the index.

Question 45

The scale in which responses are given from a range of 1 to 5 of strongly agree to strongly disagree or vice versa is an example of a:

A)semantic differential scale.
B)Likert scale.
C)Thurstone scale.
D)Guttman scale.
E)typology.

Question 46

The coefficient of reproducibility indicates

A)how reproducible scores on later items are given scores on earlier items.
B)how reproducible the scale score is knowing the scores on the original items.
C)the percentage of original responses the could be reproduced by knowing the scale score.
D)how valid the scale is.
E)the probability to reproduce the same results again in future studies.

Question 47

The coefficient of reproducibility refers to the ability of a Guttman scale to reproduce the pattern of individual responses.

Question 48

The coefficient of reproducibility is used with which scale?

A)Thurstone
B)Bogardus social distance
C)semantic differential
D)Guttman
E)Likert

Question 49

Problems will emerge especially when typologies are used as

A)an independent variable.
B)a dependent variable.
C)a means of seeing how two variables intersect.
D)a set of categories or types.
E)nominal scale.

Question 50

Miranda is seeking to create a survey in which respondents are asked questions in which they indicate if they agree or disagree with a statement.Which of the following should she employ?

A)Bogardus social distance scale.
B)Thurstone scale
C)Likert scale
D)Guttman scale
E)Semantic differential scale

Question 51

The first step in assessing an index is:

A)external validation.
B)multivariate relationships.
C)regression.
D)item analysis.
E)statistical analysis.

Question 52

Marissa conducted a research study to examine the relationship between hospital location (rural,urban,suburban)and doctor reputation in order to find observable patterns.Which approach should she use?

A) semantic differential.
B) index construction.
C) Thurstone scaling.
D) typologies.
E) index validation.

Question 53

If a researcher was interested in measuring people's perceptions towards immigrants,as well as levels of prejudice and bias,which of the following may be the best option to use?

A)Likert scale.
B)Thurstone scale.
C)Guttman scale.
D)Semantic differential scale.
E)Bogardus social distance scale.

Question 54

For an index or scale to be considered unidimensional,its component items should be indicators of only one dimension.

Question 55

An index is constructed by assigning scores to patterns of attributes.

Question 56

The most simplistic,but acceptable way of handling missing data is to

A)exclude cases that are missing data.
B)substitute responses based on an observable pattern.
C)using an analysis technique to find potential responses
D)make up the data to fill out missing cases.
E)You can never handle missing data.

Question 57

Item analysis allows you to examine the extent to which the composite index is related to other items in the questionnaire that are not part of the index.

Question 58

Lily is interested in constructing an index to measure political conservatism in Ohio.She has identified 10 different items to include in her index.Before she can claim that her index is valid,she must

A)define her items.
B)conduct an item analysis.
C)externally validate her index.
D)define her items and conduct an item analysis.
E)conduct an item analysis and externally validate her index.

Question 59

If Lily finds that all 10 items are logically related to one another,her next step is to

A)use that relationship to determine which are the better indicators.
B)use that relationship to throw out the better indicators.
C)use that relationship in order to add more indicators.
D)externally validate those items.
E)analyze the scores for those items.

Question 60

Always include at least one item in an index on which all respondents give the same answer.

Question 61

The purpose of multivariate analysis is to discover the simultaneous interaction of the items to determine whether they are all appropriate for inclusion in the same index.

Question 62

Scale scores convey more information than index scores.

Question 63

Typologies are nominal composite measures.

Question 64

Unidimensionality is when all the items in an index represent only one thing

Question 65

Choose a research topic of interest to you and devise a scale to measure a relevant variable using one of the following methods:
a. Bogardus social distance scale
b. Guttman scale
Be sure to discuss all the steps you would go through in constructing your scale.

Question 66

Compare scales,indexes,and typologies.Give examples of each.

Question 67

If several indicators are measures of the same variable,then they should be empirically correlated with one another.

Question 68

Relationships between indicators in an index should be perfectly correlated

Question 69

A set of questionnaire items that Guttman scaled on one data set will usually Guttman scale on another data set.

Question 70

Semantic differential scales employ judges to develop the scale

Question 71

If two variables to be included in an index are perfectly correlated,they should both be dropped

Question 72

Good indexes provide researchers with a ratio measurement.

Question 73

Today,Likert scaling is commonly used in the creation of simple indexes in questionnaire design.

Question 74

Scales take into consideration the intensity with which different items reflect the variable being measured.

Question 75

It is easier to use a typology as a dependent variable than an independent variable.

Question 76

Professor Chipperson wants to classify students based upon their social aptitude in high schools.He would be developing a typology

Question 77

A scale is a classification based upon two or more variables

Question 78

Explain the logic of index validation.What methods are used to validate a composite index? Give examples.

Question 79

Indicators should be related to one another if they are essentially "effects" of a variable.

Question 80

A bivariate relation is between two or more variables.