Attitude Scaling
Attitude scaling is the process of assessing an attitudinal
disposition using a number that represents a person’s score on an attitudinal
continuum ranging from an extremely favorable disposition to an extremely
unfavorable one. Scaling is the “procedure for the assignment of numbers (or
other symbols) to a property of objects in order to impart some of the
characteristics of numbers to the properties in
question. (Cooper and
Schindler, p. 394)”
I’ve always found attitude scaling to be fascinating because
it not only is dependent on how someone feels toward something, but also it is
how they feel toward it during the moment that they are answering the
question. This is a critical
distinction, because our feelings influence so much of our perception. For example, you could expect that a person
would answer favorably to almost every question on a survey if it was the day
they just landed a great job, or just accepted a proposal for marriage. Conversely, if someone just lost a job or
their spouse just walked out on them, you could reasonably expect a different
result. Even if the attitude being
addressed in the survey has nothing to do with their personal situation, you
could expect that their answers will indeed be influenced by their emotional
perception at any point in time.
Additionally, personality also might make an influence:
there are certain characters of people who scale things differently. If things are good, some will scale them as
extremely favorable where another person might scale it as neutral. That is more based on personality characteristics
rather than situation feelings.
Still, all these are factors that go into the statistical
collection of data, and it only serves to remind us that we humans are strange
creatures with such complexity and variable hues of emotional coloring.
Miguel Mazariegos
Reference:
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2011). Business
research methods (11th ed.). [Vitrium Systems, Inc. version]. Retrieved
from http://newclassroom3.phoenix.edu/classroom
