Scaling Attitude Items Constructed and Scored in the Likert Tradition

Abstract

The statement scaling emphasis associated with the Thurstone tradition for the study of attitude provides no direct consequence for attitude measurement, while conversely, the attitude measurement emphasis in the Likert tradition provides no direct consequence for statement scaling. Both aspects of the study of attitude are unified by a generalisation of Rasch's simple logistic model for dichotomously scored achievement items. The generalized model caters for the response category system of attitude questionnaires constructed and scored in the Likert tradition, but because both statements and persons are parameterised, the model has consequences for both statement scaling and person measurement. As with the simple logistic model, the two sets of parameter estimates, in this case those of the statements and of the persons, are independent of each other. An illustration involving attitudes to the professional roles of teachers is provided.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andrich, D. The Rasch multiplicative binomial model: applications to attitude data. Research Report, No. 1. Measurement and Statistics Laboratory, Department of Education, University of Western Australia, 1975.

Dymond, F. Changes in teacher role perception by trainee science teachers. Unpublished Master of Education Dissertation, Department of Education, University of Western Australia, 1975.

Edwards, A. L. A technique for increasing the reproducibility of cumulative attitude scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1956, 40, 263-265.

Fishburn, C. E. Professional role of the public school teacher. Cooperative Research Project No. S-082, San Diego State College, California, 1965.

Likert, R. A technique for the measurement of attitudes. A rchives of Psychology, 1932 , No. 140.

Mood, A. M. , Graybill, F. A. , and Boes, D. C. Introduction to the theory of statistics, McGraw Hill , Tokyo, 1974.

Rasch, G. Probabilistic models for some intelligence and attainment tests. Copenhagen, Danmarks Paedogogiske Institut, 1960.

Rasch, G. On general laws and the meaning of measurement in psychology. In Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability. IV, Berkeley, University of California Press , 1961, 321-34.

Rasch, G. An individualistic approach to item analysis. In Lazarsfeld, P. F. and Henry, N. W. , Readings in Mathematical Social Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1966.

10.

Rasch, G. A mathematical theory of objectivity and its consequences for model construction. European Meeting on Statistics , Econometrics and Management Science. Amsterdam, 1968.

11.

Rasch, G. Objektivitet i samfundsvidenskaberne et metodeproblem. Paper presented at the University of Copenhagen, 1972 (mimeo).

12.

Schriesheim, C. and Schriesheim, J. Development and empirical verification of new response categories to increase the validity of multiple response alternative questionnaires . EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT, 1974, 34, 885-892.

13.

Thurstone, L. L. A law of comparative judgement . Psychological Review, 1927, 34, 278-286.(a)

14.

Thurstone, L. L. Psychophysical analysis. American Journal of Psychology, 1927, 38, 368-389.(b)

15.

Thurstone, L. L. The method of paired comparisons for social values. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology , 1927, 21, 384-400.(c)

16.

Thurstone, L. L. The phi-gamma hypothesis . Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1928 , 11, 293-305.

17.

Thurstone, L. L. Rank order as a psychophysical method. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1931, 14, 182-201.

18.

Wright, B. D. Sample-free test calibration and person measurement. In Proceedings of the 1967 Invitational Conference on Testing Problems. Princeton, N. J., Educational Testing Service, 1967.

19.

Wright, B. D. and Mead, R. J. Calfit: Sample-free item calibration with a Rasch measurement model. Research Memorandum No. 18. Statistics Laboratory, Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1975.