This scales book is a classic in psychometrics. It is instrumental for survey researchers in the fields of advertising, marketing, consumer psychology, and other related fields that rely largely on attitudinal measures. My copy has gotten me through years of field research by helping provide testable, reliable scales.
health
With four Likert-type statements, the scale measures how easy a consumer believes it was to compare the healthiness of some similar products by using the information available on their packages.
The efficacy and likelihood that a “treatment” will cure a “condition” are measured with five, nine-point questions. The particular treatment and condition are specified in the items.
Five, nine-point Likert-type items compose the scale and measure a person’s confidence that one will successfully manage his/her health by engaging in a certain activity. (The activity can be specified by the researcher.)
Four questions and a seven-point response scale are used to measure how much a person believes the side effects of a medicinal drug are serious and threatening.
With three, 101-point items, the purpose of the scale is to measure how far into the future a certain health problem is believed to be.
Using four, nine-point items, the scale measures a person’s intention to engage in behaviors related to using sunscreen.
The scale uses three, seven-point items to measure a consumer’s belief that a particular food product featured in an advertisement is likely to have genetically modified ingredients. (GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms.)
Three, seven-point semantic-differentials are used to measure a food’s healthiness in terms of its effectiveness. To be clear, the emphasis in this particular measure is not on the nutritiousness of the food but rather how well it helps one to stay physically fit.
The degree to which a person believes there is a relationship between the healthiness of food and its cost such that healthier foods tend to be more expensive than unhealthy foods is measured with three, seven-point items.
The degree to which a person believes a particular food is wholesome and healthy is measured with three questions, each with its own semantic differential and a 101-point sliding response scale.
