Different scale construction approaches used to attitude measurement in social science research

Attitude is certainly the most typical and essential concept all over the world. There are number of variances in the definition of the term attitude. In well known definitions of attitude, it is concerned with reference to behaviour or a tendency to respond in a certain manner. Attitude tests are the most widely used tests and also the most useful tools of data collection in psychological and educational research. Many research studies have supported that there is a relationship between the values, beliefs, attitudes, intentions and behaviours of individuals. Attitude and intention are both the predictors of individual behaviour. Attitude scales are usually used for the measurement of attitude towards any other individuals, objects, ideas or things. These explain what the individual's acquired ways of thinking are for the present construct and that is attitude. The main focus of the article is to describe the five approaches that are extensively used to measure the attitude of people in Social Science research i.e.,arbitrary approach, Consensus scale approach, Item analysis approach, Cumulative scale approach and Factor analysis approach. The knowledge of appropriate approaches is very significant to measuring attitude of people. Moreover, the knowledge of all of the mentioned approaches and techniques will bend support to the every researcher to make an effective scale for measuring attitude. Although, every type of attitude measurement approaches and techniques are appropriate for the measurement of attitude, yet the choice for considering any approach and technique depends on research feasibility, knowledge, availability of literature and the nature, objective and need of the research study.