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are the advantages/disadvantages of using each of the three comparative scaling techniques, namely paired comparison scaling, rank order scaling, and constant sum scaling

Advantages of comparative scaling:

• Small differences between stimulus objects can be easily detected because the respondents are forced to choose between them.

• The respondents can approach the rating task from the same known references points because the stimulus objects are given and compared

• Easy to administer

• They require fewer theoretical assumptions

• They tend to reduce halo or carryover effects from one judgment to another

Disadvantages of comparative scaling:

• Ordinal nature of the data

• The inability to generalize beyond the stimulus objects scaled

1. Paired comparison scaling

Paired comparison scaling as its name indicates involves presentation of two objects and asking

the respondents to select one according to some criteria. The data obtained are ordinal in nature. Paired comparison is useful when the number of brands are limited, since it requires direct comparison and overt choice. One of the disadvantages of paired comparison scale is violation of the assumption of transitivity may occur.

In other words, if A>B and B>C then C>A should not be possible. Also, the order in which the objects are presented may bias the results. The number of items/brands for comparison should not be too many. As the number of items increases, the number of comparisons increases geometrically. If the number of comparisons is too large, the respondents may become fatigued and no longer be able to carefully discriminate among them. The other limitation of paired comparison is that this scale has little resemblance to the market situation, which involves selection from multiple alternatives. Also, respondents may prefer one item over certain others, but they may not like it in an absolute sense.

Advantages:

• Benefits of the ordinal scale data

• Summary of all possible...