Assumptions and Methods in Attitude Measurements

T WHERE HAS been increasing interest in the problems of attitude measurement. Bain, Droba, Roback, Sherman, Watson and others have prepared useful summaries of recent developments.' It is to be hoped that sociologists will continue to investigate this fertile field with open minds, with due precautions against stereotyped procedures and with a sense of perspective. There is reason to think that a genuine antithesis exists between certitude and meaningfulness. The transmissibility and verifiability of the quantitative-analytical approach can be purchased at too great a sacrifice of the meaning and insight associated with the intuitive-configurational approach. There does seem danger at times that the range of scientific implications may be sacrificed to refinements of statistical technique. Frequently the use of one formula as compared with another in sociological research would have less effect upon ultimate implications than positing a different conceptual framework or a new definition of units. In the interest of provoking discussion, eight questions are here raised concerning the basic assumptions of attitude measurement. Answers based on the writer's own thinking and research are given only to illustrate one possible approach to the problem.