Some Approaches to Measuring Hypothetical Constructs

(e.g. Attitudes)
Following are approaches that have been used to measure psychological constructs:
Physiological Measures, e.g .:

1.

Galvanic skin response (Galvanometer).

Pupil dilations (Pupilometer).
Eye Movement (Eye-tracking equipment).
Voice-pitch levels.

2.

Observation of overt behavior.

3.

Indirect (Projective) techniques .

4.

Subjects self-reports
a) Choice
b) Ranking
c) Sorting
d) Rating

Attitude rating scales

Selecting a measurement scale

Rating Scales

Measurement scales that allow a

respondent to register the degree (or
amount) of a characteristic or attribute
possessed by an object directly on the
scale.

Six main types of rating scales:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Category scale
Semantic differential scale
Stapel scale
Likert scale (Summated ratings scale)
Constant sum scale