Attitude Assessment in Organizations: Testing Three Microcomputer-Based Survey Systems

Abstract The interface of social psychology and organizational behavior is illustrated through the area of attitude assessment, which has had a central role in social psychology and other fields, such as management, marketing, and organizational behavior. Organizations have increasingly used attitude surveys to assess employee concerns. To increase speed and efficiency, we suggest the use of computers to administer organizational surveys. Although recent studies have compared computer administration of a survey to an equivalent paper-and-pencil version, there has not been a comparative test among various computer systems to determine whether presentation differences (speed, size, color) affect user satisfaction. We compared three systems, CENSUS, MASQ, and P-MASQ, to each other as well as to a paper-and-pencil version of an attitude survey administered to 296 civilian Navy personnel. All three systems produced responses equivalent to each other and to the paper-and-pencil administration. American civilian supervisors surveyed on computers rated it more enjoyable than did those surveyed with the paper-and-pencil version.