Submitted to:

Mr. Noel J. PeteroInstructor

BEEd IV-A General

Measuring Attitudes and Values

Attitudes

Attitude as a state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter, a disposition. evaluation of like or dislike of positiveness or negativeness toward Attitudes have three evaluative components:

o Cognitive component of an attitude is the opinion or belief segment of an attitude.

o Affective component is the emotion or feeling segment of an attitude.

o Behavioral component is the intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or

something. Sources of Attitudes:

o Acquired from parents, teachers, and peer group members.

o There are “genetic” predispositions.

o Observations, attitudes that we imitate.

Values

Etymologically, value was derived from the Latin term valere which means “to measure the worth of something”.

influence your behavior and priorities. Strong values are what you put first,defend most. These are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile.

Importance of values – Values generally influence attitudes and behavior.

Value system is a hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of one’s intensity.

Source of our Value Systems

o A significant portion is genetically determined.

o Other factors include national culture, parents, teachers, friends, and similar

environmental influences.

o Values are relatively stable and enduring.

o If we know an individual’s values, we are better able to predict a behavior in a particular

situation.

Terminal values are the end-state we hope to achieve in life.

Instrumental values are means of achieving these terminal values

TERMINAL VALUES INSTRUMENTAL VALUES

A comfortable life An exciting life A sense of accomplishment A world at peace Equality Family security Freedom Happiness Inner harmony Mature love National security Pleasure Salvation Self-respect Social recognition True friendship Wisdom

Ambitious Broad-minded Capable Cheerful Clean Courageous Forgiving Helpful Honest Imaginative Independent Intellectual Logical Loving Obedient Polite Responsible Self-controlled

Vandeveer, Menefee, Sinclair :2006

Cognitive dissonance is a conflict between two values or between values and behavior.

VALUE CLUSTERS

Cluster I:Social Responsibility

Cluster II:Mastery

Cluster III:Self Development

Cluster IV:Relationship

Cluster V:Continuity

Cluster VI:Lifestyle

Fairness Competence Challenge Self

Belonging Tradition Health

Honesty Tolerance Courageous Integrity Forgiveness

Peace Environment

Achievement Advancement

Intellectual status

Recognition Authority Power Competition

acceptance Knowledge

Adventure Creativity Personal

growth Inner

harmony Spiritual

growth

Diplomacy Team work Helping Communication

Friendship Consensus Respectful

Security Stability Neatness Self-control Perseverance

rationality

Pleasure Play Prosperity Family Appearance Intimacy Aesthetic community

General Criteria/Guidelines in Writing Attitudinal Items

Be relevant. Be specific. Avoid statements that refer to the past Avoid statements that are factual Use simple language Make the statements short. Statements containing universals such as all, always, none, and never often introduce

ambiguity and should be avoided. Words such as only, just, merely, and others of similar nature should be used with care and

moderation Use appropriate scales. Avoid bias. Avoid the use of double negatives. Avoid double-barreled questions

Steps in Developing an Attitude Test

Step 1: Define the ConstructDefine the attitude (or construct) that you wish to measure. Examples of attitudes are; attitudes toward racial integration, attitudes toward women bosses, attitudes toward smoking, attitudes toward water conservation and so forth.

Step 2: Breakdown the ConstructUsually an attitude (or construct) needs to broken down into a number of categories. For example, racial attitudes can be broken down into: marriage, social interaction, cultural heritage, workplace and so forth.

Step 3: BrainstormDiscuss and come up with a list of about 8-10 statements for each category of the attitude. Develop an equal number of positive and negative statements about each category of the attitude object.

Step 4: Rating the Items

Next is to have a group of judges or panel of experts, rate each statement on a 5 point rating scale to ensure content validity (or face validity). For example, is the statement: I would be or have been in a romantic relationship with a person of another race; describing a racial attitude.                                 

                     1 = strongly does not describe the attitude                     2 = somewhat describes the attitude                     3 = undecided                     4 = somewhat describes the attitude                     5 = strongly describes the attitude 

Step 5: ScaleDecide on an appropriate scale such as the following which has five possible responses: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat agree, 3 = undecided, 4 = somewhat agree, and 5 = strongly agree. If you want to avoid an ‘undecided’ category, you can choose to use an even number of choices, i.e. 4 point Likert scale or a 6 point Likert scale.  

Step 6: Pilot-Testing Administer the attitude scale to a group of subjects and score the instrument.