ABSTRACT
Ever since direct scaling gained currency in the 1960s, a criticism has been voiced that results critically depend on stimulus and response context. Variables such as the stimulus range, the number of response alternatives, and the position of the standard have all been singled out as important determinants of results. The unspoken opinion behind some of this criticism is that a sufficiently clever experimenter could arrange conditions so that context effects are nonexistent. Researchers who champion the use of scaling methods, though not all of their critics, believe it is possible to identify a set of conditions that is “bias free,” and therefore, capable of producing scale values that faithfully reflect the operation of sensory processes.
