and errors (or nonscalable). A scaled pattern for the
child’s knowledge example would be as follows: not
knowing any item, knowing age only, knowing only
age plus phone number, and knowing all three. All
other combinations of answers (e.g., knowing the
political leaders but not her age) are logically pos-
sible but nonscalable. If we find a hierarchical rela-
tionship, then most answers fit into the scalable
patterns. The items are scalable, or capable of form-
ing a Guttman scale, if a hierarchical pattern exists.
For higher order items, a smaller number would
agree but all would also agree to the lower order
ones but not vice versa. In other words, higher order
items build on the middle-level ones, and middle-
level build on lower ones.
Statistical procedures indicate the degree to
which items fit the expected hierarchical pattern.
Such procedures produce a coefficient that ranges
from zero to 100 percent. A score of zero indicates
a random pattern without hierarchical structure; one
of 100 percent indicates that all responses fit the
hierarchical pattern. Alternative statistics to mea-
sure scalability have also been suggested.^25 (See
Example Box 10, Guttman Scale Example.)
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT
EXAMPLE BOX 10
Guttman Scale Example
Crozat (1998) examined public responses to various forms of political protest. He looked
at survey data on the public’s acceptance of forms of protest in Great Britain, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States in 1974 and 1990. He found that the pattern
of the public’s acceptance formed a Guttman scale. Those who accepted more intense
forms of protest (e.g., strikes and sit-ins) almost always accepted more modest forms (e.g.,
petitions or demonstrations), but not all who accepted modest forms accepted the more
intense forms. In addition to showing the usefulness of the Guttman scale, Crozat also
found that people in different nations saw protest similarly and the degree of Guttman
scalability increased over time. Thus, the pattern of acceptance of protest activities was
Guttman “scalable” in both time periods, but it more closely followed the Guttman pat-
tern in 1990 than in 1974.
FORM OF PROTEST
Petitions Demonstrations Boycotts Strikes Sit-Ins
Guttman Patterns
N N N N N
Y N N N N
Y Y N N N
Y Y Y N N
Y Y Y Y N
Y Y Y Y Y
Other Patterns (examples only)
N Y N Y N
Y N Y Y N
Y N Y N N
N Y Y N N
Y N N Y Y
