Summary
Contents
What is qualitative secondary analysis? How can it be most effectively applied in social research? This timely and accomplished book offers readers a well informed, reliable guide to all aspects of qualitative secondary analysis. The book: Defines secondary analysis. Distinguishes between quantitative and qualitative secondary analysis. Maps the main types of qualitative secondary analysis. Covers the key ethical and legal issues. Offers a practical guide to effective research. Sets the agenda for future developments in the subject. Written by an experienced researcher and teacher with a background in sociology, the book is a comprehensive and invaluable introduction to this growing field of social research.
Attitude Scales
Attitude Scales
Attitude scales provide a quantitative measurement of attitudes, opinions or values by summarising numerical scores given by researchers to people's responses to sets of statements exploring dimensions of an underlying theme.
Section Outline: Tapping meanings in quantitative research. Agreement and disagreement with statements. Example: Islamic religiosity. Objective meanings. Scale characteristics. Piloting for uni-dimensionality, presentation and layout. Scales: Likert; Thurstone; Bogardus; Guttman; Semantic Differential. Advantages and disadvantages of scales.
Although quantitative research is often said to be less interested in the meanings that people attach to their actions, many surveys do in fact enquire into this area. Market research in particular asks about evaluations of products and services. The main survey method used to tap meanings is attitude scaling.
Attitude scales’ (or ‘indexes’ or ‘ratings’: see Schutt ...