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Scaling and Personal Questionnaires

Abstract

STEVENS's1 classification of types of scaling according to their group structure appears insufficient, since a higher ordered metric2,3 and an interval scaling both belong to the same group, namely, the linear group (an interval scaling according to Stevens and a higher ordered metric scaling because the only function ƒ(x) such that for all a, b, c, d, if ab > cd then ƒ(a)−ƒ(b) > ƒ(c)−ƒ(d) is a linear function), yet they contain different amounts of information.

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References

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  2. Coombs, C. H., Psychol. Rev., 57, 145 (1950).

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  3. Siegel, S., in Psychological Scaling: Theory and Applications (J. Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1960).

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  4. Stevens, S. S., Psychol. Bull., 55, 177 (1958).

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  5. Kendall, M. G., and Babington Smith, B., Biometrika, 31, 324 (1939).

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  6. Torgerson, W. S., Theory and Methods of Scaling (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1958).

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PHILLIPS, J. Scaling and Personal Questionnaires. Nature 200, 1347–1348 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/2001347b0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2001347b0

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