Tipos de escalas utilizadas em pesquisas e suas aplicações

Abstract

In scientific research, we always seek to excellence in methodology, since the definition of the best method is as important as the choice of the scale to be used. This study aims to identify the types of scales used in research and its applications. The four most common types of scale are: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Among the attitude scales used in scientific research, we highlight the Thurstone and the Likert. The Thurstone scale is used to measure a probable human attitude without indicating the intensity. The Likert scale consists of five items ranging from complete disagreement to total agreement on certain statement. It differs from Thurstone’s due to the degree of intensity that is covered by its answers and it has been more used.