Exam 10: Scaling and Index Construction

The Uniform Crime Reports crime index does not permit fair comparisons of different size populations.

Which of the following is used by the U.S.Parole Commission in predicting a prisoner's recidivism on parole?

The Machiavellianism scale discussed in the text is an example of which type of scale?

_________________ score has been used by the U.S.Parole Commission since the early 1970s to objectively assess the likelihood of a prisoner's recidivism on parole.

Discuss the Uniform Crime Reports as an arbitrary scale. How is the Sellin-Wolfgang index an attempt to adjust for inadequacies in the UCR crime index?

Which type of scale is referred to as a simple summated rating scale with items ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree?

What method of data gathering was employed in developing Greenwood's "Rand Seven Factor Index"?

The Thurstone method of devising attitude scales relies upon judges to select items.

Guttman scaling insists upon 100 percent or exact reproduci bility of the pattern of individual response on the basis of total score.

The Likert procedure, similar to the Thurstone method, relies upon judges to decide scale items.

Scales reflect levels of measurement or various designs of quantitative value that a variable can take on.

Likert scaling procedures attempt to produce a(n):

A Likert scale eliminates items that do not _________________ between the highest and lowest scores.

Q sort methodology is a variation of the Thurstone method in which the respondents themselves sort items.

_________________ procedures attempt to develop more complex, composite indicators of phenomena.

Most attitudinal scales used in the social sciences are ordinal in nature.

_________________ scales insist that a scale measure one concept only and that the total score should predict the exact pattern of answers.

_________________ scales consist of a simple summation of usually a 5 point bipolar response ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

The Salient Factor Score is used by the U.S.Parole Commis sion to assess the likelihood of a prisoner's recidivism or parole.

With its insistence upon unidimensionality, Likert scales are superior to other types of attitude scales.