ABSTRACT

Response set is the term used for a respondent's tendency to get into a rut by answering all the items in the same way, resulting in a visible alignment of responses in a roughly vertical line, either over to one side or down the middle. The danger is that, after answering several items in the same position along the scale, respondents expect their view to fall in that position and not give each item clue thought. To avoid this, and also to avoid apparent bias, students try to design their items so that a respondent with a strong view in one direction. The essential characteristic of an emotional element is that the object of the attitude arouses a definable emotion in the respondent. This chapter helps analysis of attitudes to distinguish between various components in the attitude, because these have implications for what the students might want to do to change the attitude.