Variações de Mensuração pela Escala de Verificação: uma análise com escalas de 5, 7 e 11 pontos.

This paper analyses the potential effect of multiple item scales' number of points on the descriptive results and psychometric characteristics. A literature review was carried, followed by a field survey. The data were collected by means of 3 structured questionnaires to measure management student's perception of profession reputation and personal identification. The metrics were adapted for scales of 5 (1 to 5), 7 (1 to 7) e 11 (0 to 10) points. The total sample had 285 respondents, and the procedures of analysis involved descriptive statistics and reliability analysis. The results indicated significant differences, although small ones, in the descriptive measures, on the other hand, the psychometric analyses had no variation related to the number of scale points. The main conclusion is that the use of scale with the 3 number of points can generate good results for researches; thus, the researcher may decide which scale use, considering the study's needs and the sample characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]