Attitude measurement in the questionnaire

The measurement of attitude poses more problems than does the measurement of behaviour. Respondents are able to respond relatively easily to behavioural questions, limited only by their memory of events, the amount of effort they are prepared to give to answering the questions and the degree to which they are prepared to be truthful. It is easier for respondents to say how they travelled here today, which brand of pasta sauce they last bought or which phone company they are with than it is for them to describe their attitude towards the government’s transport policy, to say how they feel about the use of convenience foods or to describe their perception of the telephone company’s brand image.

Respondents need to be helped to express attitudes and describe images, particularly to describe them in a format that we can analyse. The most commonly used approach to measuring attitude is the itemized rating scale.

Source: Brace Ian (2018), Questionnaire Design: How to Plan, Structure and Write Survey Material for Effective Market Research, Kogan Page; 4th edition.