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Topic: Measurement, Attitudes, and Behavior
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There are three major criteria for evaluating a measurement tool: Validity is the extent to which a test measures what we actually wish to measure. Reliability has to do with the accuracy and precision of a measurement procedure. Practicality is concerned with a wide range of factors of economy, convenience, and interpretability.
Attitudes
What is an attitude? An attitude is a learned, stable predisposition to respond to oneself, other persons, objects, or issues in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way. Because an attitude is a predisposition, it would seem that the more favorable one’s attitude is toward a product or service, the more likely that the product or service will be purchased. But, that is not always the case.
Attitudes and behavioral intentions do not always lead to actual behaviors. Although attitudes and behaviors are expected to be consistent with each other, that is not always the case. Moreover, behaviors can influence attitudes. Business researchers treat attitudes as hypothetical constructs because of their complexity and the fact that they are inferred from the measurement data, not actually observed.
Several factors have an effect on the applicability of attitudinal research: Specific attitudes are better predictors of behavior than general ones. Strong attitudes are better predictors of behavior than weak attitudes. Direct experiences with the attitude object produce behavior more reliably. Cognitive-based attitudes influence behaviors better than affective-based attitudes. Affective based attitudes are often better predictors of consumption behaviors. Researchers measure and analyze attitudes because attitudes offer insights about behavior.
Lesson Learning Objectives
Distinguish between measuring objects, properties, and indicants of properties.
Compare the four scale types used in measurement and when each is used.
Identify the four major sources of measurement error.
Employ the criteria for evaluating good measurement.
Explain the nature of attitudes and their relationship to behavior.
Demonstrate the critical decisions involved in selecting an appropriate measurement scale.
Appraise the characteristics and use of rating, ranking, sorting, and other preference scales.
Reading
Study Chapters 11 and 12 of the text.
Book: Educational Administration Concepts and Practices 6th Edition
Assignments
The following Assignments should be completed and submitted your responses to these questions in one WORD document. List the question first, and then your response.
Be sure to properly site your sources, both in-text and with a reference list at the conclusion. If you use an online source to support your answers, you must provide a properly formatted link to the source. You should use APA citation format and make sure your sources are credible. In
most cases, your responses should be no more than 700 words.
Assignment Questions
What are the four major sources of measurement error? Illustrate by example how each of these might affect measurement results in a face-to-face interview situation.
Below are listed some objects of varying degrees of abstraction. Suggest properties of each of these objects that can be measured by each of the four basic types of scales.
Store customers
Voter attitudes
Hardness of steel alloys
Preference for a particular common stock
Profitability of various divisions in a company
Discuss the relative merits of, and problems with:
Rating and ranking scales
Likert and differential scales
Unidimensional and multidimensional scales
Assume you are Menu Foods and you planned a major research study just prior to the largest pet food recall in our history. You plan to proceed with the study and feel you must add one or more questions to measure the consumer’s confidence that your firm will be able to recover. Draft a scale for each of the following types that will measure that confidence.
Constant-sum scale
Likert-type summated scale
Semantic differential scale
Stapel scale
Forced ranking scale
One of the problems in developing rating scales is the choice of response terms to use. Below are samples of some widely used scaling codes. Do you see any problem with them?
Yes—Depends—No
Excellent—Good—Fair—Poor
Excellent—Good—Average—Fair—Poor
Strongly Approve—Approve—Uncertain—Disapprove—Strongly Disapprove
