Developing a Community Attitude Assessment Scale

The Community Attitude Assessment Scale (CAAS) measures citizens' attitudes toward 15 community Life Areas (e.g., Education, Employment, and Health) on four dimensions—Importance, Influence, Equality of Opportunity, and Satisfaction. Residents generally rate these Life Areas high on Importance and Equality of Opportunity, but feel only limited Satisfaction with them and perceive themselves as having fairly low Influence on their operations. The scale is discussed as an instrument, and in terms of community theory, attitude theory and research, and public policy applications