Research Methodology

Unit 5

Attitude Scaling Techniques

Attitude Scaling
Attitude: it is defined as a predisposition to respond

to an idea or object It is an enduring disposition to consistently respond in a given matter Attitude scaling is the process of assessing an attitudinal disposition using a number that represents a persons score on an attitudinal continuum ranging from an extremely favorable disposition to an extremely unfavorable one. Scaling is the procedure for assignment of numbers (or symbols) for a property of objects in order to impart some of the characteristics of numbers to the

Three Components of an Attitude

Affective :

The feelings or emotions towards an

object Cognitive: Knowledge and beliefs Behavioral: Predisposition to action Intentions Behavioral expectations

Measuring Attitudes
Ranking
Rating Sorting

Choice

The Attitude Measuring Process

Ranking - Rank order preference
Rating - Estimates magnitude of a

characteristic Sorting - Arrange or classify concepts Choice - Selection of preferred alternative

Selecting a Measurement Scale

Selecting

and constructing measurement scale required the consideration of several factors that influences the reliability, validity and practicality of the scale: Research objectives Research Types Data properties Number of dimensions Balanced or unbalanced Forced or unforced choice Number of scale points

Likert scale
Named after psychologist Rensis Likert
Respondents specify their level of agreement

or disagreement The range captures the intensity of their feelings A true Likert scale creates a single scale from all of the items, then rescales each question according to the overall scale score for each response to each item

Examples
It is more important for a wife to help her

husbands career than to have one herself. It is much better for everyone if the man is the achiever and the woman takes care of the family. A preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works. A working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work.

 The respondents has to choose from strongly

agree, agree, Neither agree nor disagree disagree, or strongly disagree. These are technically called Likert items

Scoring and analysis

Likert scales are arbitrary The distance between each successive Likert item is equidistant

The following choices may help you when you design an attitude instrument. The bold face sets are the most popular.
1. Agreement

Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Agree Strongly Agree Moderately Agree Slightly Disagree Slightly Disagree Moderately Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree

Agree Undecided Disagree

Agree Very Strongly Agree Strongly Agree Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree Very Strongly

Yes No

Completely Agree Mostly Agree Slightly Agree Slightly Disagree Mostly Disagree Completely Disagree

Disagree Strongly Disagree Tend to Disagree Tend to Agree Agree Agree Strongly

2. Frequency

Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely Never A Great Deal Much Somewhat Little Never

Always Very Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely Never Often Sometimes Seldom Never

Always Usually About Half the Time Seldom Never Always Very Often Sometimes Rarely Never

Almost Always To a Considerable Degree Occasionally Seldom

3. Importance

Very Important Important Moderately Important Of Little Importance Unimportant

Very Important Moderately Important Unimportant

Very Important Important Neither Important or Unimportant Unimportant Very Unimportant

4. Quality

Very Good Good Barely Acceptable Poor Very Poor

Extremely Poor Below Average Average Above Average Excellent

Good Fair Poor

5. Liklihood

Like Me Unlike Me

To a Great Extent Somewhat Very Little Not at All Almost Always True Usually True Often True Occasionally True Sometimes But Infrequently True Usually Not True Almost Never True

True False

Definitely Very Probably Probably Possibly Probably Not Very Probably Not

True of Myself Mostly True of Myself About Halfway True of Myself Slightly True Of Myself Not at All True of Myself

Semantic Differential
Designed

to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events, and concepts Used to derive the attitude towards the given object, event or concept Makes extensive use of words rather than numbers Seven-point rating scale with end points associated with bipolar labels that have semantic meaning.

Example

Advantages Identifies particularly favorable or objectionable aspects of multi-faceted issues and concepts Provides an overall response scale score (average) for the concept Disadvantages Only useful for questions involving bipolar opposites (e.g., interesting/dull, simple/complex, active/passive) Adjectives may have different meanings for different respondents

Constant Sum Scaling

Respondents allocate a constant sum of units,

such as 100 points to attributes of a product to reflect their importance. If an attribute is unimportant, the respondent assigns it zero points. If an attribute is twice as important as some other attribute, it receives twice as many points. The sum of all the points is 100. Hence, the name of the scale.

Importance of Bathing Soap Attributes Using a Constant Sum Scale

Instructions On the next slide, there are eight attributes of bathing soaps. Please allocate 100 points among the attributes so that your allocation reflects the relative importance you attach to each attribute. The more points an attribute receives, the more important the attribute is. If an attribute is not at all important, assign it zero points. If an

Importance of Bathing Soap Attributes Using a Constant Sum Scale

Form Attribute Segment III 1. Mildness 2. Lather 3. Shrinkage 4. Price 5. Fragrance 6. Packaging 7. Moisturizing 8. Cleaning Sum Power Average Responses of Three Segments Segment I Segment II
8 2 3 53 9 7 5 13 100 2 4 9 17 0 5 3 60 100 4 17 7 9 19 9 20 15 100

Graphic Rating Scale

Oldest and most widely used method for

performance appraisal Allows the rater to indicate an employees performance on a variety of job behaviors Manager simply check the employees level of performance Requires an evaluator to indicate on a scale the degree to which an employee demonstrates a particular trait, behavior, or performance result

Who Conducts the Rating

Supervisors rating their employees

Team me mbers rating each other

Sources of Perfor mance Measurm ent

Team me mbers rating each other

Employee s rating themselve s

Advantages Standardization of content permitting comparison of employees. They also allow for quantitative comparison Easy to use and cost little to develop Disadvantages Susceptible to rating errors like halo effect, central tendency, severity, and leniency Fails to provide a good mechanism for providing specific, non--threatening feedback

The End