Context and the interpretation of quantifiers of frequency

Abstract

In this paper are reported four experiments which investigated the effects of context on the interpretation of quantifiers of frequency such as often and seldom. The proportion that a quantifier was assumed to signify was influenced by certain aspects of context, especially the expected frequency of the event or activity described. However, the order of presentation of the quantifiers, set size and the number of other quantifiers available produced no significant effects. It is concluded that caution must be exercised when interpreting the results of questionnaires which use such quantifiers. In addition, the difficulty of producing a scale of quantifiers with equal interval properties is clearly illustrated.

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