Chapter - 7

ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT

Meaning of Attitude Measurement

An attitude is a mental state involving beliefs, feelings, values and dispositions to act in a certain way. It can further be understood as a learned predisposition to respond consistently in a positive or negative manner towards different aspects of the world.

Components of Attitude
Attitude has three components Cognitive Component Affective Component Behavioral Component Example: If a person says that he loves Britannia biscuits because they are tasty and always eats them, the statement comprises all these three components of an attitude.

Relationship between Attitudes and Behavior

The following critical aspects discovered by researchers are governing the attitudes and behavior of consumers. A product or service usage will be maximum if the person develops a positive attitude towards it. The converse is also true Attitudes of consumers towards products that they have never tried will be neutral When attitudes are developed based on actual trial and experience of a product, attitudes predict behavior effectively

Changing Attitudes
Marketers attempt to change existing attitudes to attract people and increase market value. For this, they resort to three major tactics:

Altering existing beliefs about a product Changing attitudes by changing the importance of beliefs Adding new beliefs

Association Between Measurement of Beliefs and Situation It is generally found that there is a lesser relationship between researchers measurements and the actual prevailing situation. In other words, the match between what the researcher finds and what actually happens is low owing to a number of reasons.

Measurement Scales
DEFINITION OF ATTITUDE SCALE:
An attitude scale is a set of items (questions or statements) that probe a single aspect of human behavior, attitudes, or feelings.

SCALING:
It is the process of measuring quantitative aspects of subjective or abstract concepts. It is a method to assign numbers or symbols to some attributes of an object.

TYPES OF ATTITUDE SCALES

Attitude Scales

Single Item Scales

Multi Item Scales

Itemized Rank Category Order Scales Scales

Compara -tive Scales

Constant Sum Scales

Paired Pictorial Continu Q-Sort Compari- Scales -ous Scales son Scales Scales Thurstone Scales Associative Scales Stapel Scales

Likert Scales

Semantic Differential Scales

Profile Analysis
Profile analysis is a process where two or more objects are rated by respondents on a scale. Profile analysis can be considered as an application of the semantic differential scale.

CONSIDERATIONS IN SELECTING A SCALE

Researchers tend to use those scales that are easy to administer and develop. For instance, a rank order scale can be quickly developed, while a semantic differential scale takes longer time and is cumbersome. It is also important to consider the clients requirements before selecting a scale. The type of data that is needed also plays an important role in selection.

Factors which are considered while selecting a scale are given below:
Balanced Versus Unbalanced Scales: a balanced scale is one, which has the same number of positive and negative categories, while an unbalances scale is weighted towards one or the other end.

Number of Categories: it should be decided based on the research concept. It is always better to develop a scale that contains between five and nine categories. Odd or Even Number of Scale Categories: if a scale has an even number of categories, respondents who are actually neutral cannot express this feeling. Here an odd scale helps respondents. But deciding which scale to choose depends on the nature of research to be conducted.

Forced Versus Unforced Choice: when the two categories Dont know and Neutral are included in the scale, it becomes an unforced choice, as the respondents do not have to select a positive or negative opinion when they dont have any opinion. Otherwise it is a forced choice.

Thank you for your attention