Chapter Nine

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Chapter Nine

• Attitude Measurement

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What is an Attitude

• A mental state used by individuals to structure
  the way they perceive the environment and guide
  the way they respond to it
• Essence of the human change agent influencing
  attitudes can influence how you behave
• Great diagnostic / explanatory value why
  consumers buy / dont buy
• Overwhelming amount of primary research in
  marketing deals in measuring attitudes

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Formation of attitudes (MAAM)

• Belief about a brand Attribute x strength of
  its association with brand
• Importance of attribute moderates belief strength
• Sum of moderated beliefs attitude to brand
• Interpret the figure according to the direction
  of the scale
• Interpret the figure relative to attitude
  measures for competing brands
• Multi Attribute Attitude Modeling (MAAM)

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Multi-Attribute Attitude Models
n Ab ? bi ei
i 1 Ab attitude toward brand bi
belief about the relationship
between brand and attribute i ei attribute
importance weight i n number of salient
attributes
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Multi-Attribute Attitude Models
Example Value Store
Store Store Attribute
(ei) X Y Z Wide Selection 0.3 2 3 3 Low
Price 0.2 3 -2 -1 High Quality 0.3 -1 3 1
Convenient 0.2 2 2 3 location
biei for Store X (0.3)(2) (3)(0.2)
(-1)(0.3) (2)(0.2) 1.3 biei for Store Y
(3)(0.3) (-2)(0.2) (3)(0.3) (2)(0.2)
1.8 biei for Store Z (3)(0.3) (-1)(0.2)
(1)(0.3) (3)(0.2) 1.6
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Attitude Research
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Three Components of Attitude
Affective Component
Action Component
Cognitive Component
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Attitude components

• Cognitive component
• Awareness of object
• Knowledge of attributes of object
• Judgments of
• importance of attributes of object
• Satisfaction
• Etc.
• Affective component
• Feelings and emotions
• Conative component
• drive to act / behave motivation
• Desire
• Attitude is a three dimensional construct

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Ideas, Concepts, Constructs and Variables

• E.g. I want to make advertising that is cool,
  hip and edgy
• Can you lay down clear boundaries between cool,
  hip and edgy?

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Ideas, Concepts, Constructs and Variables

• E.g. I want to make advertising that is
  contemporary and effective
• Can you lay down clear boundaries between the
  two?

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Ideas, Concepts, Constructs and Variables

• 1. E.g. Did you feel that you identified
  yourself with the characters / situation in the
  ad?
• Not in the least 1 2 3 4 5 Completely
• Variable
• E.g. Did you buy the product when you last went
  to the store? Y/N
• Variable

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Construct vs. Variable

• Construct
• An idea / concept which stands on its own
• In the conceptual / abstract domain
• E.g. attitude, satisfaction, love, romance,
  commitment, motivation, etc.
• May have several dimensions e.g. dimensions of
  attitude, etc.

• Variable
• The operationalization of the construct
• A variable can be measured
• E.g. the operationalization of attitude is
  liking of romance could be attraction etc.
• If a construct has several dimensions, its
  variable has several factors e.g. factors of
  attitude, etc.

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Measurement and Scaling

• Measurement standardized process of assigning
  numbers / symbols to characteristics of objects
  according to pre-specified rules
• One-to-one correspondence between the number /
  symbol and the characteristic
• Assignment to be invariant over time and objects
• Scaling process of creating a continuum on
  which objects are located according to the amount
  of the measured characteristic they possess

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Classification of attitude scales
Attitude Scales
Single-Item Scales
Continuous Scales
Multi-Item Scales
Itemized Category Scales
Comparative Scales
Paired Comparison Scales
Rank-Order Scales
Constant Sum Scales
Pictorial Scales
Stapel Scales
Likert Scales
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Continuous Scales

• How would you rate Sears as a department store?
• Version 1
• Probably the worst -------------------------------
  ------------- Probably the best
• Version 2
• Probably the worst -------------------------------
  ------------- Probably the best
• Problems Unreliable in interpretation hence not
  widely used

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Typical Attitude Rating Scales

• Single item scales Only one item to measure the
  construct
• Comparative
• Rank order
• Pictorial
• Constant sum
• Multi-item rating scales More than one item to
  measure the construct
• Likert
• Semantic Differential
• Stapel

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Single Item rating scales

• Advantages
• Relatively quick, uncomplicated measurement
• Relatively simple to analyze
• Problems
• Can one item measure all the dimensions of the
  construct?

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Single item scales

• Itemized-category scales
• Labels each category on the scale
• Example
• What is your overall satisfaction with McDonalds
  Hamburgers
• Very satisfied
• Quite satisfied
• Somewhat satisfied
• Not at all satisfied

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What are the problems with this scale
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Single item scales

• Comparative Scales forces respondent to
  evaluate the object w.r.t. another, on the same
  attribute
• Example
• Compared to other fast food restaurants, how
  would you rate McDonalds Hamburgers on taste
• Very superior
• Superior
• Neither superior or inferior
• Inferior
• Very inferior

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What are the problems with this scale

• How will you overcome this problem?

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Single item scales

• Rank-order scales
• requires respondents to arrange a set of objects
  with regard to a common criterion e.g. interest
  in an ad, brand preferences, etc.
• Closely corresponds with the choice process since
  buyers make direct comparisons amongst competing
  alternatives

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Rank Order Scales
Please rank the following in order of your
preference where 1 your most preferred and 9
your least preferred.
Brand A _____ Brand B _____ Brand C
_____ Brand D _____ Brand E _____ Brand F
_____ Brand G _____ Brand H _____ Brand I
_____
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What are the problems with this scale

• How will you improve this scale?

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Single item scales

• Constant sum scaling
• Allocate a fixed number of rating points amongst
  several objects / attributes to reflect relative
  preference for the objects / importance of the
  attributes
• Multi-attribute model importance weights

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Constant Sum Scale

• Divide 100 points among the following attributes
  of a PC in terms of how important they are to you
  in making a purchase decision.
• Clock Speed 30
• Hard drive size 20
• RAM size 10
• Price 40
• TOTAL 100
• Possible problems with this scale?

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Single item scales

• Pictorial Scales
• Various levels of the scale are depicted
  pictorially
• Generally used when surveying children /
  illiterate samples

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Pictorial Scales

• Interviewer says Eating Honey Munch Cereal
  makes me feel

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Designing Scales

• Number of Scale Categories
• 2 to infinity (Problems?)
• 5 7 preferred
• Strength of the Anchors
• colorful vs. very colorful vs. extremely colorful
• Strong anchors are less likely to be used
• Balance of a Scale
• balanced vs. unbalanced (problems with unbalanced
  scales?)
• Equal number of categories on both sides

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Designing Scales

• Types of poles used in the scale
• Sweet and not-sweet vs. sweet and bitter
• Problems?
• Labeling of the Categories
• no labels vs. some labels vs. all labels
• Labeling reduces ambiguity
• Labeling also causes cracks

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Designing scales

• Number of response alternatives
• Five to seven is a good number
• Two to three generally stifle responses and
  frustrate respondents
• More than nine is superfluous
• An odd number is preferred since a neutral
  position can be legitimately adopted
• Dont Know option
• Use it when there is a distinct possibility
• Overuse may attract fence-sitters responses

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Multiple Item Scales

• Attitudes to complex objects like cars,
  insurance, credit cards, etc. may have many
  facets
• Unrealistic to expect just one item to capture
  all these facets
• Here we use multi-item scales
• Example Attitudes to Winthrop University

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Likert Scale

• Require respondents to indicate their degree of
  agreement / disagreement with a variety of
  statements related to the attribute or object
• Also called summated scales because scores on
  individual items are summed to obtain scores for
  respondents

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Likert scale example Satisfaction survey of Bank
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Courteous service 1 2 3 4 5
Convenient locations 1 2 3 4 5
Convenient hours 1 2 3 4 5
Low interest loans 1 2 3 4 5
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Semantic Differential Scale

• Used to describe a set of beliefs that comprise a
  persons image of an object
• Each scale item is bounded at each end by a polar
  adjective or phrase / bipolar adjectives or
  phrases
• Can be spatially represented on profile maps to a
  clearer understanding

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Semantic Differential Scale
Low Price
1
High Price
1
Consistent Quality
Spotty Quality
Smooth
Tangy
Not Bitter
Bitter
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Stapel Scale
3
Heavy
Tangy
Consistent Quality
3
2
2
1
1
-1
-1
-2
-2
-3
-3
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Exercise Identify the scale
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Exercise Identify the scale
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Accuracy of Attitude Measurements

• Reliability
• Does the scale perform consistently over time and
  over different sets of respondents?
• Test-Retest reliability administering the same
  scale at two different points in time to the same
  / different sample
• Absence of reliability induces random error in
  the measurement
• Reliability of 0.7 and above is generally good

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Reliability of Attitude to Brand scale from
Marketing Literature

• On a scale of 1 to 5, please rate your feelings
  about Pantene
• Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Good
• Dislike very 1 2 3 4 5 Like very
  much much
• Unpleasant 1 2 3 4 5 Pleasant
• Poor quality 1 2 3 4 5 High quality
• Reliability 0.88
• Source Mitchell Andrew A. J. C. Olsen (1981),
  Are Product Attribute Beliefs the only Mediator
  of Advertising Effects on Brand Attitudes?
  Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (3), (August)
  318-32

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Accuracy of Attitude Measurements

• Validity
• Does the scale measure what it is intended to
  measure?
• Absence of validity induces systematic error in
  the measurement i.e. the scale is measuring
  something else over and above the construct in
  question (e.g. attitudes)
• A valid measure is one that reflects the true
  score

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Accuracy of attitude measurements

• Observed score true score systematic error
  random error
• Hence a valid measure has both zero systematic
  and random errors
• If random error is zero (i.e. the scale is
  perfectly reliable) it may still not be valid
• The scale may be consistently measuring something
  else
• Hence reliability is a necessary but not
  sufficient pre-condition of validity

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Types of validity

• Face validity a knowledgeable conclusion about
  the scale validity
• Convergent validity
• Criterion validity does the variable predict
  another variable satisfactorily
• Does attitude to brand predict purchase
  intentions, both measured at the same time?
• Predictive validity if the DV is measured in
  the future
• Does college GPA predict the amount of salary you
  earn in the future?
• Does attitude to brand predict future buying
  behavior?

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Types of validity

• Discriminant validity
• Is your construct different from another
  construct
• Are attitude to brand and purchase intentions two
  different constructs, or the same construct with
  two different labels?
• Effect of attitude to brand and purchase
  intentions on purchase behavior
• Construct validity
• Conclusion about the measure after testing
  reliability, convergent and discriminant validity

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Accuracy of Attitude Measurements

• Sensitivity
• Ability of the scale to capture meaningful
  differences in attitudes
• Can be achieved by increasing the levels but the
  greater the levels the lower the reliability
• Generally 5 to 7 levels are good
• Generalizability
• Ease of scale administration and interpretation
  in different research settings
• Relevance
• Validity x Reliability (between 0 to 1)
• Meaningfulness to measure a construct

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Accuracy of Attitude Measurements

• Dimensionality
• Does the construct consist of only one dimension
  or more than one dimensions
• E.g. Attitudes 1,2 or 3 dimensions?
• Measured through a factor analysis