Name of institution : Kamdar College of Nursing
Course : M.Sc. Nursing first year
Subject : Nursing Education
Topic : Rating Scale
Submitted to : Mrs. Minakshi madam
Submitted by : Ms. Vina Solanki
INTRODUCTION:
Rating scale is an important technique of evaluation. Rating is the assessment of one
person by another person. This is one of the oldest methods of personality assessment. Rating is
a term applied to expression of opinion or judgment regarding some situation, object or
character. Opinions are usually expressed on a scale or value.
DEFINITION:
Rating scale is a device by which judgment may be qualified or an opinion concerning a
trait can be systematized. Rating scale refers to a scale with a set of opinions, which describes
varying degree of the dimensions of an attitude being observed. A rating scale is a set of
categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative or a qualitative attribute.
TYPES OF RATING SCALE:
Broadly speaking, rating scales can be divided into two categories: Ordinal and Interval
Scales.
ORDINAL SCALE: An ordinal scale is a scale the depicts the answer options in an ordered
manner. The difference between the two answer option may not be calculable but the answer
options will always be in a certain innate order. Parameters such as attitude or feedback can be
presented using an ordinal scale.
INTERVAL SCALE: An interval scale is a scale where not only is the order of the answer
variables established but the magnitude of difference between each answer variable is also
calculable. Absolute or true zero value is not present in an interval scale. Temperature in Celsius
or Fahrenheit is the most popular example of an interval scale. Ne Promoter Score, Liker Scale,
Bipolar Matrix Table are some of the most effective types of interval scale.
There are four primary types of rating scales which can be suitably used in an online
survey
1. Graphic Rating Scale
2. Numerical Rating Scale
3. Descriptive Rating Scale
4. Comparative Rating Scale
Graphic Rating Scale:
Graphic rating scale indicates the answer options on a scale of 1-3, 1-5, etc. Liker
scale is a popular graphic rating scale example. Respondents can select a particular option on a
line or scale to depict rating. This rating scale is often implemented by HR managers to
conduct employee evaluation.
Numerical Rating Scale:
Numerical rating scale has numbers as answer options and not each number corresponds
to a characteristic or meaning. For instance, a Visual Analog Scale or a Semantic Differential
Scale can be presented using a numerical rating scale.
Descriptive Rating Scale:
In a descriptive rating scale, each answer option is elaborately explained for the
respondents. A numerical value is not always related to the answer options in the descriptive
rating scale. There are certain surveys, for example, customer satisfaction survey, which needs to
describe all the answer options in detail so that every customer has thoroughly explained
information about what is expected from the survey.
Comparative Rating Scale:
Comparative rating scale, as the name suggests, expects respondents to answer a
particular question in terms of comparison, i.e. on the basis of relative measurement or keeping
other organizations/products/features as a reference.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RATING SCALE:
Are valuable judgments about attributes of one person by another person?
Most commonly used tools to carry out structured observations.
Make quantitative judgments about qualitative attributes.
Provide flexibility to judge the level of performance or presence of attributes
among subjects.
STEPS IN DEVELOPING A RATING SCALE:
Identify the course objectives.
List the specific objectives.
Enumerate the terminal/behavioral objectives.
Describe the rating in qualitative and quantitative terms.
Summarize the ratings by adding the scores.
In order to place the students in different categories, calculate total score.
ADVANTAGES OF RATING SCALE:
Records qualitative and quantitative judgments about observed performance.
Measure specified outcomes or objectives of education deemed to be significant
or important to teacher.
Evaluate procedures such as playing an instrument, operating an equipment or
machine, demonstrating the nursing procedure.
Evaluate products such as typed letter, responses of demonstration, sample of
diagram, charts etc.
Help teachers to rate students periodically on various characteristics such as
punctuality, honesty, cheerfulness and other personal traits.
Adaptable and Flexible.
Used within a large number of students.
Reduce the subjectivity and Unreliability.
DISADVANTAGES OF RATING SCALE:
It is difficult to fix up rating about many aspects of an individual.
Misuse can result in decreased objectivity.
Due to chances of subjective evaluation, scales may become unscientific and
unreliable.
Lack of uniformity with which terms are interpreted by the evaluator.
COMMON SOURCES OF ERRORS IN RATTING SCALES:
Ambiguity.
Attitude of the rater.
Personality of the rater; Halo effect; personal bias; logical errors.
Opportunity for adequate observation.
CONCLUSION:
Now I conclude my topic, I discussed about rating scale, different types of rating
scales, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of rating scales.
BIBLIOGRAPY:
Basavanthappa BT; “NURSING RESEARCH”, 2nd edition (2007), Jaypee, pg
no.467- 471.
NEERAJA K.P; “TEXT BOOK OF NURSING EDUCATION” 1st edition,
Jaypee brothers, pg no. 419-420.
Laura.A.Talbot; “PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE OF NURSING RESEARCH”,
Mosby’s publications, pg no.189-190.
Polite. Hunglar; “NURSING RESEARCH PRINCIPLES AND METHODS”,
Lippincott Company, Pg no.279-284.
Shankararnarayan B Sindhu B; “LEARNING AND TEACHING” 2nd edition; Pg
no 161-171, 180-181.
Suresh K. Sharma and Reena Sharma; “COMMUNICATION AND
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY”, Second Edition, Published by ELSEVIER,
pg no. 377-380.
