Attitude Measurement

by Caroline Roberts

• ISBN13: 9781412928403
• ISBN10: 1412928400
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-13
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

Summary

The field of attitude research has long been recognized as one of the most important and influential within social psychology. But the ever-increasing popularity of survey research as a source of what the public thinks and feels about a wide range of issues has brought the subject into the popular arena, heightening the relevance of the theory and practice of attitude measurement. Caroline Roberts and Roger Jowell, acknowledged specialists in this area of research, have combed the literature to bring together the most comprehensive collection available. The four volumes cover key advances since serious study of the subject began, where the selection of articles and papers present the key figures, major steps forward in theory or practice and some of the most creative and ingenious methodological work in the social sciences. This set will provide a rich reference source that should appeal to academics and practitioners alike. Volume 1 ' Basic concepts and historical foundations Volume 2 ' Designing direct measures Volume 3 ' Obstacles to direct measurement Volume 4 ' Expanding the measurement horizons

Table of Contents

Basic Concepts and Historical Foundations

Attitudes versus actions

The sociological significance of measurable attitudes

A consideration of beliefs, and their role in attitude measurement

Attitude measurement: a cognitive perspective

A simple theory of the survey response: Answering questions versus revealing preferences

Measuring social distances

Attitudes can be measured

A technique for measurement of attitudes

A comparison of the Thurstone and Likert techniques of attitude scale construction

A basis for scaling qualitative data

A technique for the construction of attitude scales

Attitude Measurement

A technique and a model for multi-dimensional attitude scaling

Latent structure analysis

Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix

Reliability and validity assessment in attitude measurement

Designing Direct Measures

Open versus closed questions

Strong arguments and weak evidence: The openosed questioning controversy of the 1940s

The wording of questions

Experiments in wording opinion questions

Three-point Likert scales are good enough

Are three-point scales always good enough?

The relationship between number of response categories

The optimal number of response alternatives for a scale: A review

Feeling thermometers versus 7-point scales: Which are better?

How often is often?

Often is where you find it

Vague quantifiers

Extreme response on a Likert scale

"Don't know": Item ambiguity or respondent uncertainty?

Decisions about ignorance: Knowing that you don't know

"No-opinion" filters: A cognitive perspective

Should we take don't know for an answer?

The impact of no opinion response options on data quality: Non-attitude reduction or an invitation to satisfice?

Response alternatives: The impact of their choice and presentation order.

The effect of ordinal position upon responses to items in a checklist

The effects of offering a middle response option with opinion questions

The middlemost choice on attitude items: Ambivalence, neutrality, or uncertainty

Experiments with the middle response alternative in survey questions

The measurement of attitudes

The retrospective question

Obstacles to Direct Measurement

Response sets and test validity

The great response-style myth

Attitude intensity, importance and certainty and susceptibility to response effects

Response strategies for coping wit

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