A scale is a ratio that allows us to represent real-world objects in a smaller dimension, like maps or blueprints. It also helps architects and machine-makers work with models of machines and buildings that would be too large if they were their actual size.
This study analyzed current practices in scale development and found that most studies neglected a thorough psychometric analysis. Future research should incorporate the opinions of the target population and use multiple methods to ensure construct validity and reliability.
Definition
Scale is the relative size of different parts of an object. It is important when drawing to get proportions right. For example, if you are drawing a car, it is essential that the wheels are in proportion to the body of the car or they will look unbalanced.
In film, scale is used to determine the relative importance of characters and objects. Creating scale in cinema is an art and has been masterfully done by directors like Carl Theodor Dreyer, Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick.
In general, scale is a series of steps or degrees that climb up or down. It can also refer to a musical scale or a number system with a regular gradation of intervals. It can also mean a particular classification or rank: on the social scale of beings, man is higher than animals. It can also refer to the degree of accuracy or consistency that a weighing scale exhibits. This is usually determined by its resolution or division size.
Origin
Scale is a term that comes up frequently in conversations about geographic data. But it’s important to distinguish between its several different meanings — especially since the word is used in the process of creating maps.
In music, scales are often precomposed to guide or limit composition. This is especially true of the music of highly sophisticated cultures. These types of scales may be derived from the harmonic series. In the example below, the scale is based on the intervals do, re, mib, sol, and lab.
Artist Jeremy Smith uses scale to create intricate miniatures of trees and leaves that look like they have been woven from bamboo or cut from alabaster. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. He has also won awards for his sculptures and paintings.
Types
There are four common types of scale: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Each type of scale has a specific purpose. For instance, a ratio scale has the characteristic of an origin or zero point and thus, is compatible with statistical analysis methods like mean, median, mode etc.
The other three levels of scale, nominal, ordinal and interval, are defined based on how variables can be rated. For example, hair color is a nominal variable as it has no numerical value, whereas rank of players or students in a competition is an ordinal variable.
Interval level data contains values that can be divided or added to obtain a meaningful proportion or difference. For example, temperature or distance can be measured using an interval scale. A musical scale is classified based on its interval pattern, namely diatonic, chromatic and major scales. A scale with a tritone or semitone intervals is called a tonic scale, while a non-tritonic, hemitonic scale is called an atritonic.
Applications
The scale is often used to reduce a large number into a smaller one, usually by multiplying it by a factor of less than 1. For example, maps and blueprints use this technique to shrink vast lands onto small pieces of paper, and architects and machine-makers need to scale their designs.
Similarly, web applications use it to prepare for their expected growth and peak usage periods. This is why scalability is important, as it’s an essential part of ensuring a web application has a smooth user experience.
However, a single-minded focus on scale can also backfire. For instance, large centralized operations can limit innovation and stifle customer responsiveness. They can also stifle employee development and dull sensitivity to industry changes. That’s why the key to successful scaling is to balance it with efficiency, simplicity and performance management. Moreover, it’s crucial to know when to delegate tasks and when to enlarge the team. That’s where Relevant comes in – we can help you grow your business by building an effective and scalable web application.