Attitude Measurement

Jonali SarmaINC, Guwahati

Objectives

• To learn about the various types of attitude scales.

• To examine some basic considerations in selecting a type of scale.

• To realize the importance of attitude measurement scales in management decision making.

Attitude A position of the body or manner of

carrying oneself .

Attitudes develop on the ABC model (affect, behavioral change and cognition).

Attitude

• “ The sum total of Man’s inclinations and feelings, prejudice or bias, preconceived notions, ideas, fears, threats and convictions about any specific topic.” – Thrustone

• “ An attitude is an enduring organization of cognitive, affective and behavioral components and process with respect to some aspect of an individual’s world.” – Tull and Hawkins

Components of Attitude

• Cognitive – deals with , a person’s belief or knowledge about an object.

• Affective – deals with a person’s likes or dislikes regarding an object.

• Behavioral – deals with the action tendencies or predispositions towards an object.

Attitude Components and Manifestations

Stimuli:

Products, retail outlets,sales personnel,advertisements,and otherattitude objects.

Cognitive

Affective

Behavioral

Overall

orientationtowardobject.

Beliefs aboutspecific attributesor overall object.

Emotions or feelings about

specific attributesor overall object.

Behavioralintentions

with respect tospecific attributesor overall object.

Initiator ComponentManifestation

Attitude

Attitude and Behaviour

A product or service usage will be maximum if the person develops a positive attitude towards it. Attitudes of consumers towards products that they have never tried will be neutral. Consistency in attitude and behaviour is more when it is based on actual trial and experience rather when it is based on advertising.

Changing Attitude

The companies can attempt to change the attitudes of customers towards a product in three ways:

Altering existing beliefs about a product.

Changing attitudes by changing the importance of beliefs.

Adding new beliefs.

Attitude Scale

An attitude scale is a set of items that measure a

single aspect of human behaviour, attitudes, or

feelings.

Scaling is a process of measuring quantitative

aspects of subjective or abstract concepts.

Scales are uni-dimensional or multi-

dimensional.

Types of Attitude scales

Single Item Scales

Multi-item Scales

Single Item Scales

Itemized category scales: respondents

have to select an answer from a limited

no. of ordered categories.

Very bad Bad Neither bad

nor good Good Very Good

Indicate your opinion about eBay

Rank Order Scale

It’s a comparative scale where the respondent is

asked to rate an item or a group of items against

each other based on a common criterion.

Brand

AffordableCost

HighMileage

Stylish GreatPickup

Hero Honda

TVS

Bajaj

Comparative rating Scales

This scale provides all respondents with a

common frame of reference.

By virtue of its common frame of reference,

it allows the researcher to be confident that all

respondents are answering the same question.

But sometime a standard frame of reference

may not necessarily be meaningful to all

respondents.

Comparative Scale

Here the researcher provides a point of

comparison for respondents to provide answers. All respondents will have a uniform point of

comparison for selecting answer.

Excellent Very Good

Good Both are same

Poor Very Poor

Rate the product X in comparison to the product Y

Paired Comparison Scale

This scale consists of a question seeking

comparative evaluations of two objects at a time

Paired Comparison Scale for a toothpaste

Select one item each from the following pairs that is most important to you

a. Fights decay b. Affordable

a. Affordable b. Germ protection

a. Germ protection b. Fights decay

Constant Sum Scale This scale has a neutral starting point (zero) and

asks respondents to allocate a set of points

among several attitude objects.

Please assign values as you think to different

attributes:

Price

Style

Mileage

Pick up

Colour

Comfort

Total

100

Graphic Rating Scale Stressing Pictorial Visual Communications

3 2 1Very VeryGood PoorAverage

Continuous Scale

Its very easy to develop but difficult but rarely

used in actual research as they do not give

accurate results and the scoring process is

complicated.

How would you rate the overall service of

Blue Dart?

Best------------------------------------------------------Worst

100 090 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Multi - Item Scale

A multi–item scale consists of statements

pertaining to the attitude object, each with a

rating scale attached to it.

Semantic Differential scale

Stapel scale

Likert Scales

Thurstone scales

Semantic Differential scale Semantic differential scales are used to

describe a set of beliefs that underline a

person’s attitude towards an organization,

product or brand. This scale is based on the principle that

individuals think dichotomously or in terms of

polar opposites such as reliable-unreliable,

modern-old fashioned.

A series of seven-point bipolar rating scales. Bipolar adjectives, such as “good” and “bad”, anchor both ends (or poles) of the scale.

A weight is assigned to each position on the rating scale. Traditionally, scores are

7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or +3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3.

Slow 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fast

Plain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stylish

Semantic Differential Scale

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL SCALES FOR MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARD TENNIS

Exciting ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : Calm

Interesting ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : Dull

Simple ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ Complex

Passive ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ Active

Modern versions of the Staple scale place a single adjective as a substitute for the semantic differential when it is difficult to create pairs of bipolar adjectives.

Stapel Scale

DepartmentStore Name

+3+2+1

Wide Selection-1-2-3

Stapel Scale for Measuring a Store’s Image

Likert Scales

An extremely popular means for measuring attitudes. Respondents indicate their own attitudes by checking how strongly they agree or disagree with statements.

Response alternatives: “strongly agree”, “agree”, “uncertain”, “disagree”, and “strongly disagree”.

LIKERT SCALE FOR MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARD TENNIS

Playing tennis is a great way to exercise.

___Strongly Agree

___Agree

___Not Sure

___Disagree

___Strongly Disagree

Thurstone Scales

Select a group of 80 to 100 items indicating the different degrees of favourable attitude towards a concept. These items are given to a group of judges to categorize them. The judges are asked to treat intervals between categories as equal. Once the results are obtained, all those items that have a consensus are selected. These results are then distributed uniformly on a scale of favourability. Then results are administered to a set of respondents.

Profile Analysis

Two or more items are rated by

respondents simultaneously. It is an application of semantic

differential scale. It is difficult to interpret the profiles

as the number of objects increases.

Profile Analysis

1 2 3 4 5

Stylish . . . . . Old fashioned

Affordable . . . . . ExpensiveHigh Brand Value . . . . . Low Brand Value

High range . . . . . Low Range

More no. of Lesser no. of

Outlets . . . . . Outlets

Levis Lee Wrangler

Rating Scales

The emphasis of the rating scales is on -

a)An overall attitude towards an object, such as

Diet Coke.

b)The existence level of a particular attribute in an

object, like sweetness.

c)An individual’s feelings towards an attribute of

an object, such as liking the taste.

d)The importance associated with an attribute ,as

the absence of caffeine.

Rating asks the respondent to estimate the magnitude of a characteristic, or quality, that an object possesses. The respondent’s position on a scale(s) is where he or she would rate an object.

Considerations in Selecting a Scale

Balanced Versus Unbalanced scalesNumber of categoriesOdd or Even Number of scale

categoriesForced Versus Unforced Choice

Balanced Scale

A balanced scale has an equal number of positive/favorable and negative/unfavorable response choices.

What is your overall rating of eBay in comparison

with other auction websites?

Much About the Much

Worse Worse same Better Better

UNBALANCED SCALE

Unbalanced scale has more responses distributed at one end of the scale where the overall attitude of the respondent sample is likely to fall. How satisfied are you with the university bookstore?

Neither Satisfied Quite VerySatisfied Nor Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Dissatisfied

Forced Scales A forced-choice scale does not give respondents

the option to express a neutral or middle ground.

Respondents needs to indicate an attitude on

the object, even if he has no attitude towards it.

What is your overall rating of eBay in comparison with

other auction websites?

Much Much

Worse Worse Better Better

Non-forced Scales

A nonforced-choice scale gives respondent

the option to express a neutral attitude.

Indicate your overall rating of sify website for

opening e-mail ID by placing a √ in the

appropriate box.

Very bad Bad Neither bad Good Very

nor good good