Het bepalen van een nulpunt van een attitudeschaal met behulp van de intensiteit van een attitude: kritiek op een methode

Samenvatting

L. Guttman & E. A. Suchman ("Intensity and a Zero Point for Attitude Analysis," American Sociological Review, 1947, 12, 57-67) attempted to find the zero when attempting to measure the intensity of an attitude; often the extremity of an attitude is measured instead of the intensity. The effect of this supposition leads to the prediction of a u-shaped relation between scale scores & intensity scores, & also to the prediction that individuals will react with more intensity the more distant they are from their scale position or their scale score item. It is also hypothesized that the zero-points of scales with predominantly popular items, & those with predominantly unpopular items will differ. The results support these predictions. This model is only valid for the single question technique. 3 Tables, 3 Figures. In KOMMENTAAR OP EEN NULPUNTBEPALING (Comment on the Zero-Decision), P. G. Swanborn states that the ability to distinguish between the percentages of R's with a negative opinion & those with a positive opinion is only useful when the measuring of attitudes is used for the prediction of one certain behavior. 2 Figures. In ANTWOOD (Reply) W. Koomen & H. J. van Daal maintain that it is useful to know the percentages of pros & cons. N. Hirschsohn.