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Measuring attitudes. Direct measures Semantic differential scale Likert scale Indirect measures Physiological measurements Projective tests. psychlotron.org.uk. Measuring attitudes. How can we find out what people’s attitudes are?
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Measuring attitudes • Direct measures • Semantic differential scale • Likert scale • Indirect measures • Physiological measurements • Projective tests psychlotron.org.uk
Measuring attitudes • How can we find out what people’s attitudes are? • What might be the advantages and disadvantages of each method? psychlotron.org.uk
Measuring psychological processes • Should we observe people or ask people? psychlotron.org.uk
Measuring psychological processes • Observing people tells you what they do but not necessarily why • Asking people might tell you why people do things but only if: • They actually know; • They tell you the truth psychlotron.org.uk
Direct measures of attitudes • Involve asking people questions about their attitudes • Could be used to obtain quantitative or qualitative data psychlotron.org.uk
Attitude scales • Direct, quantitative measures of attitudes • Ways of turning peoples attitudes into a set of numbers • Semantic differential scales • Likert scales psychlotron.org.uk
Semantic differential scales psychlotron.org.uk
Semantic differential scales • Chosen attitude object is rated on a series of bipolar adjective pairs • Adjective pairs relate to: • Evaluation (good or bad) • Potency (strong or weak) • Activity (active or passive) • Evaluation is the most important to most psychologists psychlotron.org.uk
Likert scale psychlotron.org.uk
Likert scale • Respondent rates a series of statements (about the AO) according to how much they agree • Scores for each statement summed to give an overall attitude score psychlotron.org.uk
Comparison & comments • Both: • Fairly easy to create • Easy to compare PPs responses • Likert: • More reliable • May oversimplify (one dimensional) • Semantic differential: • More valid (multi-dimensional) • Harder to analyse psychlotron.org.uk