attitude measurement - cool.ntu.edu.tw

Chapter Eleven

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Attitude Measurement

Marketing Research 11th Edition http://www.drvkumar.com/mr11/

http://www.meriweather.com/777/fwd/attitude.jpg

http://www.meriweather.com/777/fwd/attitude.jpg

Attitude Measurement

• Used to understand and influence behavior since:

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Concept exists that attitudes lead to behavior

More feasible to ask questions on attitudes than to observe and interpret behavior

Capacity for diagnosis and explanation

Learn which features of a new product concept are acceptable or unacceptable

Measure the perceived strengths and weaknesses of competitive alternatives


What Are Attitudes?

• Mental states used by

individuals to structure

the way they perceive

their environment and

guide the way they

respond to it

• Components of attitude:

1. Cognitive or

Knowledge

component

2. Affective or Liking

component

3. Intention or Action

component

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Cognitive or Knowledge Component4

A person’s information about an object

Awareness of existence of the object

Beliefs about the characteristics or attributes of the object

Judgments about the relative importance of each of the attributes


Affective or Liking Component

• Summarizes a person’s overall feelings toward an

object, situation, or person on a scale of like-dislike

or favorable-unfavorable

• When there are several alternatives, liking is

expressed in terms of preference for one alternative

• Preference measured by asking which alternative is

“most preferred” or “first choice,” which is the

“second choice,” and so on

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Intention or Action Component

• Refers to a person’s expectations of future behavior

toward an object

• Intentions are usually limited to a distinct time period

that depends on buying habits and planning horizons

• Incorporates information about a respondent’s ability

or willingness to pay for the object, or otherwise take

action

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Concept of Measurement

• Measurement is a standardized process of assigning

numbers or other symbols to certain characteristics of

objects of interest, according to pre-specified rules

Characteristics for standardization of measurement

1. One-to-one correspondence between the symbol and

the characteristic in the object that is being measured

2. Rules for assignment should be invariant over time

and the objects being measured

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Scaling

• Process of creating a continuum on which objects are

located according to the amount of the measured

characteristic possessed

• Types of measurement scale:

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Nominal Ordinal

Interval Ratio


Nominal Scale9

Are you a resident of

Connecticut?

Yes

No

Are you

1) Caucasian

2) African-American

3) Hispanic

4) Asian

5) Other

Objects are assigned to mutually exclusive, labeled categories

• No ordering or spacing are implied

No necessary relationships among categories

Only possible arithmetic operation is a count of each category


Ordinal or Rank Scale10

Rank your preferences for the

following attributes in making

a car purchase decision

Price -----------

Safety -----------

Design -----------

Fuel economy ------------

Ranks objects or arranges them in order by some common variable

Does not provide information on how much difference there is between objects

Arithmetic operations are limited to statistics such as median or mode


Interval Scale11

On a scale of 1 to 7, how would you rate the performance of

natural gas as home heating fuel in terms of reliability of supply?

(1 being least reliable and 7 being most reliable)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Numbers used to rank objects also represent equal increments of the attribute being measured

Differences can be compared

Entire range of statistical operations can be employed for analysis


Ratio Scale12

How old are you? _________What is your zip code?______

Type of interval scale with meaningful zero point

Possible to say how many times greater or smaller one object is than another

Only scale that permits comparisons of absolute magnitude


Types of Scales and Their Properties13


Attitude Rating Scales

• Present a respondent with a continuum of

numbered categories that represent the range

of possible attitude adjustments

• Classified as:

1. Single item scales

2. Multiple item scales

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Classification of Attitude Scales

Single Item Scales

• Only have one item to measure a construct

Types of Single item scales

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Itemized-category

Comparative Rank-order

Q-sort PictoralConstant

sum

Paired-Comparison


Itemized-category Scales

• Respondent selects from a limited number of categories

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________ Very Satisfied

_________ Quite Satisfied

_________ Somewhat Satisfied

_________ Not at all Satisfied`


Comparative Scale

• A judgment comparing one object, concept, or

person against one another

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Rank-order Scales

• Respondent compares one item with another

or a group of items against each other and

ranks them

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Q-sort Scaling

• Respondents sort comparative characteristics

into normally distributed groups

• Ten or more groups increases accuracy of results

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Pictorial Scales

• Various categories of the scale are depictedpictorially

▫ Thermometer Scale

▫ Funny faces scale

• Format must be comprehensible to respond and allow accurate response

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Like very much

Dislike very much

100

75

50

25

0

1 2 3 4 5


• The brands to be rated are presented two at a time, so

each brand in the category is compared once to every

other brand

• Brands are rated on a given number of points that are

then divided between the two brands on the basis of

respondents’ preferences

• Frame of reference is always the other brand being tested;

these brands may change over time

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Compare

A and B

A and C

A and D

B and C

B and D

C and D


Paired – Comparison Scales

Constant-sum Scale

• Respondents allocate a fixed number of rating

points among serial objects to reflect relative

preference

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Issues in Designing Single-Item Scales24

Balanced

Very good ______

Good ______

Bad ______

Very Bad ______

Unbalanced

Superb ______

Very Good ______

Good ______

Average ______

Types of poles used in the scale

Number of scale categories

Strength of the anchors

Balance of the scale

Labeling of the categories


For eg: Smell of Morning Dew is…

Multiple-item Scales

• Developed to measure a sample of beliefs toward the

attitude objects and combine the set of answers into an

average score

Types of multiple-item scales:

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Likert ScaleThurstone

Scales

Semantic-Differential

Scales


Likert Scale

• Requires respondent to indicate degree of

agreement or disagreement with a variety of

statements related to the attitude object

• Also called Summated Scale since scores on

individual items are summed to give total score for

respondents

• Usually consists of item part and evaluative part

• Likert scale is uni-dimensional

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Likert Scale – Example27


Thurstone Scales

• Also known as the method of equal-appearing intervals since

objective is to obtain a unidimensional scale with interval properties

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Step 1: Generate a large number of statements or adjectives reflecting all degrees of favorableness toward the attitude objects

Step 2: A group of judges is given this set of items and asked to classify them according to their degree of favorableness or unfavorableness


Thurstone Scales (contd.)29

Advantages

• Easy to administer

• Requires minimum instructions

Limitations

• Time consuming

• Expensive to construct

• Not as much diagnostic value as a Likert scale

• Values depend on the attitudes of the original judges


Semantic-Differential Scale

• Respondents rate each attribute object on a number of

five or seven-point rating scales bounded by polar

adjectives or phrases

• With bipolar scale, the midpoint is a neutral point

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Semantic-Differential Scale (contd.)

• Pairs of objects or phrases selected must be meaningful

in market being studied and correspond to

product/service attributes

• Rotate negative pole on either side to avoid "halo" effect

• Category increments are treated as interval scales so

group mean values can be computed for each object on

each scale

• May also be analyzed as a summated rating scale

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Profile Analysis

• Application of semantic differential scale

• Plot mean ratings for each object on each scale for visual comparison

• Overall comparison of brands hard to grasp with many brands and

attributes

• Not all attributes are independent

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Stapel Scales

• Uses one pole rather than two opposite poles

• Respondents select a numerical response category

• High positive score reflects good fit between adjective and object

• Easy to administer and construct

• No need to assure bipolarity

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Associative Scaling

• Most effective for markets where respondent is

knowledgeable only about a small subset of a large

number of choices

• Appropriate to choice situations that involve a

sequential decision process

• Best suited to market tracking where the emphasis is

on understanding shifts in relative competitive

positions

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Continuous Rating Scales

• Respondents rate objects by placing a mark at

appropriate position on a line running from one

extreme of the criterion variable to the other

• Also called graphical rating scales

• Easy to construct

• Scoring is cumbersome and unreliable

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General Guidelines For Developing A Multiple-Item Scale36

Determine clearly what you are going to measure

Generate as many items as possible

Ask experts in the field to evaluate the initial pool of items

Determine the type of attitudinal scale to be used

Include some items that will help in the validation of the scale

Evaluate and refine the items

Administer the items to an initial sample

Finally, optimize the scale length


Choosing An Attitudinal Scale37

Problems in choosing a scale

• Different techniques with different strengths and weaknesses

• Virtually any technique can be adapted to the measurement of any one of the attitude components

Researchers’ choice shaped by

• The specific information required

• Adaptability of the scale to the data collection method and budget constraints

• Compatibility of the scale with the structure of the respondent’s attitude


Accuracy of Attitude Measurements

Validity: An attitude measure has validity if it measures what it is supposed to measure

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Face or Consensus Validity

• The extent to which the content of a measurement scale appears to tap all relevant facets of the construct

Criterion Validity

• Based on empirical evidence that the attitude measure correlates with other “criterion” variables

Concurrent Validity

• Two variables are measured at the same time

Predictive Validity

• The attitude measure can predict some future event


Accuracy of Attitude Measurements (Cont.)39

Convergent Validity

• A form of construct validity that represents the association between the measured construct and measures of other constructs with which the construct is related on theoretical grounds

Discriminant Validity

• A form of construct validity that represents the extent to which the measured construct is not associated with which the construct is related on theoretical grounds

Construct Validity

• A scale evaluation criterion that relates to the underlying question "what is the nature of the underlying variable or construct measured by the scale?"


Accuracy of Attitude Measurements (Contd.)40

Reliability

• The consistency with which the measure produces the same results with the same or comparable population

Sensitivity

• Extent to which ratings provided by a scale are able to discriminate between the respondents who differ with respect to the construct being measured

Generalizability

• Refers to the ease of scale administration and interpretation in different research settings and situations

Relevancy

• Relevance = reliability * validity


Scales in Cross-National Research

Responses Can Be Affected by:

• Low literacy and educational levels

• Culture; semantic differential scale is closest to pan-cultural scale

• Adapting response formats, particularly their calibration, for specific countries and cultures

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End of Chapter Eleven

attitude measurement - cool.ntu.edu.tw

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