The measurement of beliefs and attitudes.

Abstract

The measurement of beliefs and attitudes is essential both in various applications and in the pure science of social psychology. Such measurement, being necessarily indirect, can be accomplished by a variety of means which utilize the behavior and immediate experience of the individual as diagnostic data. In measuring beliefs and attitudes, account must be taken of the fact that the manner in which they are reflected in behavior and experience is governed in part by the nature of the momentary situation. The required precision of measurements may vary, but the techniques must be both reliable and valid. The determination of the validity of measurements can be done only indirectly. "Individual" beliefs and attitudes are also measurable, since there is a considerable degree of absoluteness possible in the quantification of various attributes, and hence the meaning of such measurements does not have to depend solely upon relative norms of the group. The present chapter will be concerned with a discussion of general issues involved in all measurement of beliefs and attitudes and with types of scales and rating methods that are particularly--though not exclusively--applicable to the measurement of selected samples under controlled conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved). (from the chapter)