ATTITUDE SCALE:

INTRODUCTION:
The attitude scale is a special type of questionnaire designed to
measure people opinion on any special issues or event that is called
attitude scale. We can use attitude scale to measure the student
feeling on education and we try to understand student learning
capacity. Attitude scale help the give rating of student according to
their performance. The use of attitude scale are used to rank of
peoples judgments of objects, event, or other.

DEFINTION:
''Attitude as the degree of positive or negative feeling associated with
some psychological object like symbol, phrase, slogan, person,
institution, idea towards which people can differ in varying degree''
According to LL Thurstone in 1928

"The attitude scale is a special type of questionnaire designed to

measure people opinion on any particular event and issue''

''Attitude scale is made up of statements about a particular issue and

each statement has a numerical value indicating how favourable or
unfavourable it is judged to be.''

TYPES OF ATTITUDE SCALE:

5 types of attitude scales are there, which are as follow:
1. Itemized category scales
2. Point scale
 3. Differential scale/ LL Thurston’s scale
4. Summated (Likert) scale
5. Semantic differential scale

1. ITEMIZED CATEGORY SCALE:

Are those in which respondents have to select an answer from

a limited number of ordered Categories.
EXAMPLE: A patient is asked to indicate the level of satisfaction
for the nursing service provided.
-Highly satisfied
-Considerably satisfied
-Reasonably satisfied
-Unsatisfied
-Highly unsatisfied
1) Rank order scale: There are comparative scale where
respondents were asked to rate an item in comparision with another
item or a group of item on a common criterion.
2) comparative scale: The researcher provides a point of
comparision for respondents to provide answers. Therefore, all
respondents will have a uniform point of comparision for selecting
answers.
EXAMPLE: Patient is asked to rate the hospital ‘X’ in comparision
to hospital ‘Y’ in punjab.
- Excellent
- Very good
- Good
- Both are same
- Poor
- Very poor
2. POINT SCALE:
The Incredible 5 Point Scale is used to assist students in becoming
aware of their emotions, such as anger or pain, and the stage or
level of the emotion. The scale can be used with a variety of
students, but can be particularly affective for students with
Asperger's and Autism Spectrum Disorder. One to one instruction
is suggested as the best way to introduce this strategy. Using the
scale, the student rates his emotions or status of a condition or
state. Possible areas of focus may include: anger worry, anxiety,
voice level, body, space etc. This then allows the student to
a. Provide information to the teacher about how he is feeling
b. Become more effective in managing his thinking process
C. Implement the desired behaviour as a proactive approach. Giving
a number instead of trying to describe or name an emotion helps
students think efficiently in order to make good decisions in a
variety of situations.

The following steps may be used implementing a 5-Point scale

with a shudent:
 Choose the target behavior: Any kind of behavior or status can
be target behavior if rating the level or status of the behavior
enhances adaptability. Anxiety or other feeling that usually
result in problem behaviors may also be also targeted for rating.
 Decide on the content for each scale point associated with the
target behavior: In the Incredible 5 Point Scale, each of the 5
stages represent the level or magnitude of the target behavior.
  Develop a story or visual cue for the story if necessary: The story
or visual cue should be developed carefully based on the
student's interest or level of understanding. It should explain
how the scale is to be used.
 Introduce the scale to the student: To use the scale successfully
the student must learn how to discriminate and identify each
stage.
 Practice the scale with the student, revising it if necessary: peers
who understand the student can support her as she practices the
appropriate behavior or interaction by using the scale. The
adults, including parents, Teachers, or other, in the setting, can
help by using the scale with the student in various situations.

there are two methods,

Method 1:
 Select the words will give the opinion.
 The resporldent is to cross out every word, I. e., more annoying
than pleasing to him.
 The attitude of a respondent is known by calculating the
numbers of words crossed or not crossed.
 One point is given to each agreement or disagreement which
ever to be chosen.
Method 2:
 Two sets of words indicating both favorable and unfavorable
opinions are given. The unfavorable items may be crossed and
favorable items may be left unscored.
3. DIFFERENTIAL SCALE/ THURSTONE’S SCALE:
The Thurstone scale was the First formal technique for measuring an
attitude. It was developed by Louis Leon Thurstone in 1928, as a
means of measuring attitudes towards religion. The Thurstone
attitude scale, however, consists of statements which have a range of
weights from high (usually 11) to low (usually 1). Subjects select the
attitudinal statements they agree with most. Their scores result from
computing the average of the weights of the items selected. Use the
following steps to develop weighted items for a Thurstone scale.
1. Develop item pool:
It includes developing an item pool of attitudinal statements that
range from extremely unfavourable to extremely favourable, as
well as neutral statements. An item pool of about 50 attitudinal
statements is adequate.
2. Compute item weights:
Compute a scale value (or 'weight') for each statement. This is
done by having a panel of 10 or more judges rank each
statement. This is done by having each judge read through all
statements, and choosing the most positive. This statement is
given 1 point. Most negative? (11points). these statements are
eliminated from the pool. Choose the two next most positive (2
points each). Two next most negative (10 points). Four next most
positive (3 points). Four next most negative (9 points). After all
judges have rank ordered the statements, average weights are
computed by adding up all the points from all the judges for each
item, and dividing by the number of judges. This average is the
item weight. The item with the lowest weight is the most
positive, according to the panel of judges. The item with the
highest weight is the most negative,
3. Rank the item by weight:
Rank the items by item weight, low (positive) to high (negative).
4. Choose item by Equidistant weight:
Compose the final scale by selecting 20 to 25 statements
whose weights are approximately equidistant from each other
through the entire scale. If a 9-category favourableness scale
was used by judges and if 22 items are to be selected for the final
scale, the items will need to be picked at scale intervals of
approximately 0. 36. (Mere are eight units between 1. 00 and
9.00; 8/22 = 0. 36).
In fact, since no items will have median values as low as 1. 00
or as high as 9. 00, a slightly smaller interval size, perhaps around
0. 33, should be used to select 22 equidistant items. 5 If two
items have the same weight, choose the item with the smaller
standard deviation. In this way, the list of statements forms a
range of weights, as determined by the panel of judges.
5. Formatting the scale:
Place the selected statements in random order. Do not include
item weights on the instrument.
6. Administering the scale:
Direct the subjects to read all statements in the instrument and
mark those with which they agree. They may choose as many as
they like.
7. Scoring:
Compute the median (or mean) of the weights of the statements
marked by the subject. This is the subject’s score which reflects
attitude on the theme. These scales are used to measure the
social phenomenon. The researcher will collect varied number of
statements related to attitudes. Judges will determine the
positions on the scale. The position is determined by the method
of equal appearing intervals. Judges will work independently to
classify these statements into 11 groups.
4.SUMMATED ( LIKERT ) SCALE:
It was developed by Rensis Likert in 1932. The Likert scale is by far
the most popular attitude scale type. A statement is followed by
several levels of agreement: strongly agree, agree, no opinion,
disagree, And strongly disagree. It is a 5 point rating scale and each
statement has five possible responses.
Sr. Rating Weight for Weight for
no. favor Unfavor
1 Strong agreed (SA) 5 1
2 Agreed(A) 4 2
3 Undecided (U) 3 3
4 Disagree (D) 2 4
5 Strongly disagree(SD) 1 5

Characteristics of the likert scale:

The following procedure is used to analyse data from Likert scales:
 First, weights are assigned to the response options, e. g. Totally
agree = 1, Agree = 2, etc.
 Then negatively-worded statements are reverse coded (or
reverse scored). For example a score of 2 for a negatively-
worded statement with a 5-point response options are
equivalent to a score of 4 on an equivalent positive statement.
 Next, scores are summed across statements to arrive at a total
(or summated) score.
 Each respondent's score can then be compared with the mean
score or the scores of other the respondents to determine his
level of attitude, loyalty, or other construct that is being
measured.
 Expressed on a category scale.
  Extremely popular means for measuring attitudes.
 Respondents indicate their own attitudes by checking how
strongly they agree/disagree with the statements.
 Response alternatives: 'strongly agree', 'agree', 'uncertain',
'disagree', and 'strongly disagree’.
 Generally use either a 5 or 7 point scale.

Steps in constructing likert scale:

1) Define the attitude
2) Determine related areas
3) Write statements
4) Positive examples
5) Negative examples
6) Create an item pool
7) Validating the items
8) Rank
9) Formatting the scale
10) Write instructions
11) Scoring the likert scale

Advantages:
 It supplies more precise and definite response towards an issue.
 It permits the revelation of several (5) degree of agreement or
disagreement.
 It is more informative and reliable.
 It has broader area of reference method of checking internal
consistency.
Disadvantages:
 The judgment on the basis of the total score, which is
estimated by calculating the mean or median, is not
scientific.
 There is no objective basis for expressing different
degrees of agreement or disagreement.

5.GUTTMAN SCALING:
The purpose of the Guttman Scale is to test whether or not a
collection of attitude statements will exhibit the characteristic
pattern. It is not a method of construction of attitude scale, but is
supposed to be a method of evaluation of attitude scale.
Steps in the development of Guttman Scale:
The basic assumption of Guttman method is content homogeneity.
In this method, after making a detailed description of the content
matter, statements are selected by the judges. All statements have
two options only-Agree and disagree or Yes or No. 1 mark is given for
response ticked as yes or agreed and O mark is given for responses
ticked as No or disagreed. In attitude statements score 1 indicated
much favourable attitude and 0 indicates less favourable attitude
towards statement. Guttman believes that persons who scored equal
marks on the scale would have answered all the questions in the same
way. In other words, we may say that on the basis of scores obtained
by the individual we can know about the approach he opted to
respond the questions.
To calculate attitudinal score the Same statement is given to
different person and the scores are obtained on total statements an
individual’s attitude score is calculated and this is known as predictor
of attitude of a particular person, Because the attitude score is
obtained by taking the sum of all the scores therefore, this method is
also called as Cumulative method.

6. Semantic Differential Scales:

Series of numbered (usually seven-point) bipolar rating scales.
Bipolar adjectives (for example, 'good' and 'bad'), anchor both ends
(and poles) of the scale.
A weight is assigned to each position on the rating scale. Traditionally,
scores are 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or +3, +2, +l, O,-1,-2,-3. A rating scale in
which bipolar adjectives are placed at both ends (and poles) of the
scale, and response options are expressed as 'semantic’ space.
Characteristics:
- The scale has properties of an interval scale.
- Sometimes descriptive phrases are used instead of bipolar
adjectives, especially when it is difficult to get adjectives that are
exact opposites.
- It is often used to construct an image profile.