Measurement in the Social Sciences: Where C-OAR-SE Delivers and Where It Does Not

Autor(en)

Thomas Salzberger, Marko Sarstedt, Adamantios Diamantopoulos

Abstrakt

Purpose – This paper aims to critically comment Rossiter’s “How to use C-OAR-SE to design optimal standard measures” in the current issue of EJM and provides a broader perspective on Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE framework and measurement practice in marketing in general.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual, based on interpretation of measurement theory.
Findings – The paper shows that, at best, Rossiter’s mathematical dismissal of convergent validity applies to the completely hypothetical (and highly unlikely) situation where a perfect measure without any error would be available. Further considerations cast serious doubt on the appropriateness of Rossiter’s concrete object, dual subattribute-based single item measures. Being immunized against any piece of empirical evidence, C-OAR-SE cannot be considered a scientific theory and is bound to perpetuate, if not aggravate, the fundamental flaws in current measurement practice. While C-OAR-SE indeed helps generate more content valid instruments, the procedure offers no insights as to whether these instruments work properly to be used in research and practice.
Practical implications – This paper concludes that great caution needs to be exercised before adapting measurement instruments based on the C-OAR-SE procedure, and statistical evidence remains essential for validity assessment.
Originality/value – This paper identifies several serious conceptual and operational problems in Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE procedure and discusses how to align measurement in the social sciences to be compatible with the definition of measurement in the physical sciences.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Rechnungswesen, Innovation und Strategie

Externe Organisation(en)

Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU), Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, University of Newcastle

Journal

European Journal of Marketing

Band

50

Seiten

1942-1952

Anzahl der Seiten

11

ISSN

0309-0566

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2016-0547

Publikationsdatum

2016

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

502052 Betriebswirtschaftslehre

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Marketing

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/measurement-in-the-social-sciences-where-coarse-delivers-and-where-it-does-not(91565e43-177d-4050-b779-757a7717a4eb).html