Measuring Sense of Place: A Scale For Michigan

This article details the development and testing of a scale used to measure the existence and strength of sense of place among Michigan's residents. Sense of place is a concept that refers to the manner in which individuals relate or feel about the places in which they live. By definition place includes the home, neighborhoods, communities, or even an area as large as the state of Michigan. Subscales addressing sense of place constructs (place attachment, place identity, place dependence) were incorporated into the final instrument. Data, provided by registered voters, were collected on a statewide basis. Results show that 80.1% of the respondents possessed a sense of place regarding the state and 87.7% included Michigan in their self identity. Testing of the scale employing Cronbach's alpha (α = .87) revealed the instrument to be a reliable tool useful for measuring the attitude.