PSY 475
December 22, 2012
In certain situations, it is important for psychologists to understand the attitudes of people on different issues. Attitude surveys are how psychologists gather information about attitudes of people. Then, they take this information and turn the results into empirical evidence to back up the theory or question that is impending. A person’s attitude can affect thought and behavior processes such as cognitive thinking, emotional reaction, and physical behaviors (Hogan, 2007). For my survey, I used the Likert method of attitude scale to develop my attitude assessment. I wanted to find what the attitude of smokers and non-smokers have about the smoking ban in restaurants. This paper will examine and discuss the development of my survey, administration process, scoring of the surveys, and the interpretation of the scores. Also, issues that I had while designing the survey will be discussed.
Attitude Survey The development of my survey was taken from an issue that I personally was interested in because I am a smoker. When the ban first became a law, I heard many people, including myself; complain about the right to have a smoking section in restaurants for individuals who smoked. The ban has now been in effect for a few years, and I wanted to find out if smokers and non-smokers attitudes had changed on this issue.
Survey Design In designing my survey, I used the Likert scale because I felt it would be the best way to gather the information I needed. This survey was designed to see how people view smoking in restaurants. These questions were answered by 6 different people, of which 3 were smokers and 3 were non-smokers. The surveyors were asked to answer each question by stating strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, or strongly disagree. The numerical scores for each question range from-2 to +2.
Administration, Scoring, and Interpreting Results Administration consisted of me going to neighbor’s doors and
References: Hogan, T.P. (2007). Psychological testing: A practical introduction (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.