Evaluation and Revision of an Instrument Measuring Attitudes toward the Amish

Abstract

The attitudes non-members hold toward the Amish—or any ethnic, racial, and religious group—has consequences for that population, from criminal victimization to an ability to exercise human rights. Given their rapid growth and expansion in North America, an effective tool is needed to measure public attitudes toward the Amish. William McGuigan recently led the development of an Attitudes Toward the Amish (ATA) instrument, which was tested in northwestern Pennsylvania. In using the ATA in northeastern Missouri, we encountered problems with the instrument’s operational validity: no significant differences were found in the responses between a university undergraduate population of largely urban/suburban origin and the local rural population when we would otherwise expect differences. We revised the instrument and administered it to the same populations. Of the 16 items in the revised version, 14 were significantly different at the p < .05 level. A factor analysis revealed four components with face validity. Based on these results, we offer the Revised ATA (RATA) as an improved instrument and make recommendations for designing instruments intended to measure attitudes toward outgroups.