The Method of Constructing an Attitude Scale

Abstract

Each statement should be of such a nature that persons with different points of view, so far as the particular attitude is concerned, will respond to it differentially. Any statement to which persons with markedly different attitudes can respond in the same way is, of course, unsatisfactory. It is essential that all statements be expressions of desired behavior and not statements of fact. Two persons with decidedly different attitudes may, nevertheless, agree on questions of fact. Consequently, their reaction to a statement of fact is no indication of their attitudes. In dealing with expressions of desired behavior rather than expressions of fact the statement measures the present attitude of the subject and not some past attitude. The statement may involve a different issue from the one involved in the rest of the statements, that is, it involves a different attitude continuum.

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