Types Of Research Scales

A research scale is anything that helps test and evaluate the usefulness of a topic that has been researched upon and there are different types of research scales which help determine how useful a researched topic really is. Different methods are used in order to do this and only then, are the researched topics approved and sent in to get published and referred to for other purposes. This way they can be used in books, textbooks and such like, too. There are different types of research scales nowadays and in some cases all of them may be used to evaluate the topic.

The Likert scale is one of the most widely types of research scales that is used nowadays when it comes to determining the amount of weight a research topic holds. What happens in these types of research scales is that the researcher prepares a questionnaire with questions in them. These questions are asked with the purpose of getting an idea as to what the answerer thinks of the research. There are different scales used where the answers are concerned which may be something like “Agree, Disagree, Strongly Agree, Strongly Disagree” and such like to determine the reliability of the research.

In some cases some researchers would like to get an idea of what the answerer thinks, subjectively of the research paper and in order to determine this, what he does is that he uses the visual analog scale. What these types of research scales do is that they help get a more detailed look into what the person reading the research paper is thinking in regards to the topic and about how it has been researched. These types of research scales are very similar to the Likert scale and are much more detailed as well because of which some people tend to give these types of research scales preference as well.

Rating scales are also certain types of research scales that are used to determine the reliability of quantitative and qualitative data. There are those types of research scales, where rating scales are concerned, that would be very similar to the Likert scale but these types of research scales also allow one to determine the usefulness of researched topics in a numerical manner. For example- “On a scale of 1-10, to what extent do you believe that the crime rate has increased due to increasing poverty and population?” and then, numerical values from 1 to 10 would be provided that would help determine how much a person thinks a statement is correct or incorrect too.

Phrase completion is also one of the variable types of research scales that help in determining the reliability of research in different ways and they make up for where the Likert scale lacks. These help determine how much a person agrees with the researchers’ point of view and ideology and again, numerical values are provided to be able to judge the response of the person giving the answer to the question as well.