ABSTRACT

Measurement in the social sciences is sometimes thought more difficult than measurement in the physical sciences because of the lack of objective standards to which change can be related. In the last analysis the selection of items in a scale and their weighting have a considerable element of the arbitrary and subjective when compared, for example, with the behaviour of mercury in a glass tube. This scale had its origin in an inquiry designed to discover the influence of the house upon the desire to move, and it was shown that a relationship did exist. When the scale was revised the opportunity was taken to investigate the relationship more closely.