Attitude Scaling

Abstract

Attitude scaling is the process of locating J attitude statements or items and/or N individuals on a latent continuum or scale. There are numerous methods available for the scaling of attitudes. The earliest methods, developed by L. L. Thurstone, R. Likert, and L. Guttman required two stages: One stage to locate the items on the scale and a second stage to locate the respondents. Other early work on the scaling of attitudes by C. H. Coombs allowed for the simultaneous estimation of both items and respondents, but the assumptions proved too restrictive for most real examples. Modern attitude scaling techniques use item response theory models, both monotone and unfolding, to perform attitude scaling.