Flow of discussion: Measurement Scales

Read Slide # 1 (Attitude)

refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person, thing, or event.

Affective Component example of this is “I am scared of spiders”

Behavioral example is “I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one”
Cognitive “I believe spiders are dangerous”

Attitudes and behavioral intentions do not always lead to actual behaviors; and although attitudes and behaviors are
expected to be consistent with each other, that is not always the case. Moreover, behaviors can influence attitudes.

Behaviors are conducive to either your attitude towards a circumstance, situation, or person, thus creating the reaction
to a situation and the person would behave reactive to the attitude towards the person place or thing.

Attitude begins in the mind and then gets reflected in the body(behavior).

Attitude begins in the mind and then gets reflected in the body(behavior).

A person could be full of attitude, and not let it be reflected in their behavior, but this would take a tremendous amount
of self control, and a lot of mindful practice. Just as it takes a lot of practice to self induce an attitude, and then act out
the part through behavior, even though it’s not a reflection of your inner self at all, as in the case of professional acting.

Example: A friend invites you to join him next Saturday afternoon at an art gallery exhibit featuring the work of some
local modern artists. Though you enjoy art, your artistic taste and interest tends to run more along traditional lines
(portraits, landscapes, etc.). However, not wanting to disappoint a friend, you agree to go.

As the date for the exhibit nears, your prevailing assumption is that this will be a wasted afternoon with nothing of
particular interest for you. Next, your attitude begins to conjure thoughts of boredom, tedium. Come the day of the
exhibit, your behavior indicates a clear lack of interest, overt indifference and strong desire to be someplace else.

In surveys, the most commonly used question types are rating scale questions. This is where respondents are asked to
indicate their personal levels on things such as agreement, satisfaction or frequency.

Rating scale questions are best used when you want to measure your respondents’ attitude toward something.

If you are trying to get your respondents to choose between a list of desirable things, there is an easy solution: ranking
questions. This question type allows respondents to identify which objects are most and least preferred.

Sorting is any process that involves arranging the data into some meaningful order to make it easier to
understand, analyze or visualize. When working with research data, sorting is a common method used for
visualizing data in a form that makes it easier to comprehend the story the data is telling.

The value of rating scales depends on the assumption that a rater can and will make good judgments. Errors of central
tendency, halo effect, and leniency adversely affect a precise understanding of the measurement.