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118 PART II: Descriptive MethodsTABLE 4.3EXAMPLE OF RATING SCALE USED TO MEASURE A PARENT’S WARMTH AND AFFECTIONTOWARD AN INFANT CHILD*Scale ValueDescription1 There is an absence of warmth, affection, and pleasure. Excessivehostility, coldness, distance, and isolation from the child arepredominant. Relationship is on an attacking level.23 There is occasional warmth and pleasure in interaction. Parentshows little evidence of pride in the child, or pride is shownin relation to deviant or bizarre behavior by the child. Parent’smanner of relating is contrived, intellectual, not genuine.45 There is moderate pleasure and warmth in the interaction. Parentshows pleasure in some areas but not in others.67 Warmth and pleasure are characteristic of the interaction withthe child. There is evidence of pleasure and pride in the child.Pleasure response is appropriate to the child’s behavior.*From materials provided by Jane Dickie.most rating scales used by observers to evaluate people or events on a psychologicaldimension really yield only ordinal information. For a rating scale to betruly an interval level of measurement, a rating of 2, for instance, would haveto be the same distance from a rating of 3 as a rating of 4 is from 5 or a ratingof 6 is from 7. It is highly unlikely that human observers can make subjectivejudgments of traits such as warmth, pleasure, aggressiveness, or anxiety in amanner that yields precise interval distances between ratings. However, most researchersassume an interval level of measurement when they use rating scales. Decidingwhat measurement scale applies for any given measure of behavior is notalways easy. If you are in doubt, you should seek advice from knowledgeableexperts so that you can make appropriate decisions about the statistical descriptionand analysis of your data.Checklists also can be used to measure the frequency of particular behaviorsin an individual or group over a period of time. The presence or absence ofspecific behaviors is noted at the time of each observation. After all the observationsare made, researchers add up the number of times a particular behavioroccurred. In these situations, frequency of responding can be assumed to representa ratio level of measurement. That is, if “units” of some behavior (e.g., occasionswhen a child leaves a classroom seat) are counted, then zero representsthe absence of that specific behavior. Ratios of scale values also would be meaningful.For example, a child who leaves her seat 20 times would have exhibitedthe target behavior twice as much as a child who leaves his seat 10 times.Electronic Recording and Tracking Behavior also can be measured using electronicrecording and tracking devices. For example, as part of a study investigatingthe relationship between cognitive coping strategies and blood pressureamong college students, participants wore an ambulatory blood pressure