Using Multi-Item Measurement Scales in Marketing Research

Using Multi-Item Measurement Scales in Marketing Research

If you really want to say something (quantitatively) about things like customer attitude, customer behavior, brand loyalty or commitment towards a brand, product or an organization you need reliable measurement scales. These are often used in marketing research and marketing intelligence practices.
Such scales are usually built from several questions that together answer one question.
A great book regarding measurement scaling is the 'Marketing Scales Handbook' by Gordon. C. Bruner. In this book he describes 716 multi-item scales about consumer behavior and advertising research. All the scales described are used in earlier marketing research. The book is really handy if you want to do research about for instance attitudes, personality, commitment, ease of use, intentions, involvement, loyalty, satisfaction, word- of- mouth.
I will give an example of a multi-item measurement scale about the attitude of a person towards a company. The scale consists of 4 questions that taken together will say something about the attitude of a person towards a company. The four questions are:

1. I say positive things about __________’s products to other people.
2. I have a favourable attitude toward doing business with __________ over the next few years.
3. To me, __________ is clearly the best company of its kind with which to do business.
4. I believe __________ is a good company.

The book provides many more measurement scales about attitudes and also describes the reliability and validity of the scales. If you want to execute marketing research you can always send me a message with your question. I can give information on how to set up and manage your research!
Sources: Bruner, G. C. (2009) "Marketing Scales Handbook". GCBII Productions Carbondale, Illinois USA. Vol 5.
Gremler, Dwayne D. (1995), “The Effect of Satisfaction, Switching Costs, and Interpersonal Bonds on Service Loyalty,” unpublished doctoral dissertation, Marketing Department, Arizona State University.
Mathwick, Charla and Edward Rigdon (2004), “Play, Flow, and the Online Search Experience,” JCR, pp.324-332.