Persuading Attitude Scales

The past two weeks in my persuasion class, centered in the communications major at my college, we have been discussing different types of attitude scales. We have been asked by our professor to analyze two of the types of attitude scales we have learned about. The two scales that I have chosen to analyze are both part of the standardized self-report scales; the first will be a likert scale and the second will be a semantic differential scale. Though both of these scales are quite similar, they work for two separate purposes. The semantic differential scale is measuring the attitude the person surveyed feels about an object on a bipolar scale, while a likert scale measures agreement or disagreement with a specific statement (Kuhn, 2023). 

A likert scale is used to measure people's attitudes through numbers and words ranging from good to bad to try and gauge their opinion. An example of a likert scale would be the types of surveys that range from never, rarely, sometimes, often, and always to try and figure out how often someone may participate in a specific action. A semantic differential scale is used to figure out the attitude that people are feeling towards something such as a new concept. An example of a semantic differential scale provided in the article by George Kuhn discusses how a guest found their fries to be at a particular fast food restaurant ranging from very cold to very hot (Kuhn, 2023). 

The benefit of using a likert scale to measure specific attitudes is because it gives a more detailed answer for researchers than a simple yes or no answer would (Bhandari & Nikolopoulou 2020). A likert scale is much more beneficial for researchers to use when they are trying to get a more indepth answer from those they are surveying. A likert scale is not useful when you are trying to research and observe something that is concrete which would be my main issue with this scale, though that is not what its purpose is. This scale could easily be affected by social desirability bias from those taking the survey because the concern of people always wanting to be viewed in a good light by people does not stop at surveys. Even if I am taking a completely anonymous survey, I still find myself worrying about what the researchers may think of my responses. This scale also falls under the elaboration likelihood model as how those being surveyed receive the different questions can have a huge impact on how they respond. 

The benefit of using a semantic differential scale is that it is more clear on the true feelings of those being surveyed because it allows them to say they liked a product somewhat or just a bit rather than saying not at all. An issue I can see with this type of scale is that consumers could find it to be too overwhelming. When a survey has more than a simple yes or no, it is easy to get caught up in whether or not you are picking the exact answer you are thinking. The semantic differential scale would also be affected by both the theory of reasoned action and the elaboration likelihood model. 

Making this post was helpful to show me how similar yet different these two types of attitude scales are. It was valuable for me to be able to focus on these two scales and pick apart exactly what makes them both so special and compare the two to see their similarities. Another aspect of this assignment that I found interesting was getting to learn more about ELM (elaboration likelihood model) and TRA (theory of reasoned action) and the way that they affect surveys and attitude scales. In the future I will have a better understanding of attitude scales as a whole and especially the likert scale and the semantic differential scale because of this assignment. 

Works Cited

Bhandari P. & Nikolopoulou K. (July 3 2020). What Is a Likert Scale? | Guide & Examples. Methodology: Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/likert-scale/

Kuhn, G. (May 4 2023)Explaining Semantic Differential Scales [+ Example Questions]. Market Research Company Blog: Drive Research. https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/what-is-a-semantic-differential-scale/