Theory of Scales

August 4, 2001

Construction of Scales

• It is a question whether there can be a theory in creating a scale.
• For measuring length, we have measuring units of inches, foot, yard, and mile. We have instruments like foot ruler, measuring tape, the metallic link that measures miles, the vernier, and screw gauge for measuring micro units. Today it has been expanded on all sides.
• Skills in using them are required to complete measurement.
• A unit of measurement, appropriate instruments, personnel trained in these skills are necessary for a scale to be operative.
• In medicine, the prevalence of scales and instruments if well observed.
• The world that has equipped itself with such tools in all physical fields has not had equal success in psychological fields. All the fields I speak of are psychological.
• Skills, accomplishment, personality, inner steadiness, capacity to speak and communicate, closing ratios in sales, electoral victory, moral worth are some of these fields. Every psychological endowment, whether it is memory or presence of mind can be put on a scale, a unit created for it and people trained to use it, especially now that computer is there.
• If so, are there theories about scales?

- Any field permits the creation of scales.

- Measurement makes study precise and scientific.

- Measurement reveals a world of correspondence with other related aspects of work.

- Measurement enables one to become conscious as well as organised, the twin processes of progress.

- Measurement makes observation organised.

- Perfection is not possible without classification, systematization which need measurement.

- Measurement demands separation of a lump into its separate parts.

• Language consists of speech, writing and singing. Speech is subdivided into conversation, colloquialism, dialect and inarticulate sounds and soundless motions of the parts of the body. Writing comes under the heads of poetry, prose governed by grammar. Speech is examined, as pronunciation, intonation, accent, letters, words, their inflection, phonetic script are all there for studying. Of the five vowels in English, experts see 23 vowel sounds and one expert distinguished 130 vowel sounds. These enable a STUDY, and scales in each minor branch are a sine qua non.
• Success in a lawsuit, medical treatment, academic course, sale or purchase can have a SCALE. Every human activity can be well served by a scale.
• A nation's prosperity is now measured in two different ways. E.g. A nation's longevity can be computed by a formula if all the ingredients of health and longevity are measured and coordinated. Then the formula will emerge.
• Man as a social being, a psychological being, a spiritual being can be put on a scale.
• Job efficiency on a scale will attract employers and will be useful to employees for self-evaluation.
• Even understanding can go on a scale. For instance, most do not see that theirs is a selfish understanding which is a result of observation from their own point of view.
• The subtle understanding can reveal what is not revealed by the physical fact, as one with subtle vision saw blood on a blessing packet going to a patient awaiting an operation. Even that can go on a scale.