Left at Table 1: Paper on a Statistics Chapter 11

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