Senin, 04 Mei 2015

Issues in the Development of Non-Test Instruments (Rating scales, semantic differential scales, checklists, questionnaires and others)

By:
(Marwa & Erlik Widiyani Styati)
Rating scale is one of the enquiry form. Form is a term applied to expression or judgment regarding some situation, object or character. Opinions are usually expressed on a scale of values. Rating techniques are devices by which such judgments may be quantified. Rating scale is a very useful device in assessing quality, especially when quality is difficult to measure objectively. For Example, “How good was the performance?” is a question which can hardly be answered objectively. Rating scales record judgment or opinions and indicates the degree or amount of different degrees of quality which are arranged along a line is the scale. For example: How good was the performance?

            Excellent Very good Good Average Below average Poor Very poor
            ___|________|_______|_____|_________|_________|_____|____

            This is the most commonly used instrument for making appraisals. It has a large variety of forms and uses. Typically, they direct attention to a number of aspects or traits of the thing to be rated and provide a scale for assigning values to each of the aspects selected. They try to measure the nature or degree of certain aspects or characteristics of a person or phenomenon through the use of a series of numbers, qualitative terms or verbal descriptions.

            A questionnaire is a form prepared and distributed to secure responses to certain questions. It is a device for securing answers to questions by using a form which the respondent fills by himself. It is a systematic compilation of questions that are submitted to a sampling of population from which information is desired. Questionnaire relies on written information supplied directly by people in response to questions. The information from questionnaires tends to fall into two broad categories – ‘facts’ and ‘opinions’. It is worth stressing that, in practice, questionnaires are very likely to include questions about both facts and opinions.
            The purpose of the questionnaire is to gather information from widely scattered sources. It is mostly used in uses in cases where one can not readily see personally all of the people from whom he desires responses. It is also used where there is no particular reason to see them personality.

            A checklist, is a type of informational job aid used to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consisting and completeness in carrying out a task. A basic example is ‘to do list’. A more advanced checklist which lays out tasks to be done according to time of a day or other factors. The checklist consists of a list of items with a place to check, or to mark yes or no.
            The main purpose of checklist is to call attention to various aspects of an object or situation, to see that nothing of importance is overlooked. For Example, if you have to go for outing for a week, you have to list what things you have to take with you. Before leaving home, if you will check your baggage with the least there will be less chance of forgetting to take any important things, like toothbrush etc. it ensures the completeness of details of the data.
Responses to the checklist items are largely a matter of fact, not of judgment. It is an important tool in gathering facts for educational surveys.
            Semantic differential is a type of a rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events and concepts. The connotations are used to drive the attitude towards the given object, event of concept. The semantic differential is today one of the most widely used scales used in the measurement of attitudes. One of the reasons is the versatility of the items. The bipolar adjective pairs can be used for a wide variety of subjects, and as such the scale is nicknamed “the ever ready battery” of the attitude researcher.
Semantic Differential Scale : This is a seven point scale and the end points of the scale are associated with bipolar labels.
           
Unpleasant   Submissive  1      2        3          4         5         6         7  Pleasant       Dominant
            Suppose we want to know personality of a particular person.
           
            When Semantic Differential Scale is used to develop an image profile, it provides a good basis for comparing images of two or more items. The big advantage of this scale is its simplicity, while producing results compared with those of the more complex scaling methods. The method is easy and fast to administer, but it is also sensitive to small differences in attitude, highly versatile, reliable and generally valid.

REFERENCES
Denscombe, M (1999). The Good Research Guide.   New Delhi: Viva Books Private         Limited.

Siddhu , K.S (1992). Methodology of Research in Education. New Delhi: Sterling Publisher

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