How would you measure the students’ attitudes toward this lecture?

AFFECTIVE MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS CUIN 6378 Instructional Evaluation Presented by Lauro Davalos Jessica Tovar-Hilbert Lora Smith Yen Ngo Rachel Ong

What are Affective Instruments?  They are instruments that measure characteristics of individuals along a number of dimensions and to assess feelings, values, and attitudes toward self, others, and a variety of other activities, institutions, and situations (Jacobs, nd)

Distinguishing Behavior from Attitude  Behaviors refer to what are expressed overtly such as seeing, looking, hearing, yelling, saying, keeping quiet, etc. They are what people focus on to conclude that the others have bad or good attitudes.  Attitudes are fairly consistent and stable ways that people think and feel about or react to other people, places, things, or ideas.  Because attitudes reflect people internal thoughts and feelings, they are not directly observable. Therefore, we always draw conclusions about unobservable attitudes based on observable behaviors.

Affective Instrument Examples LauroJessicaRachelLora Sociogram

Affective Instrument Examples Two-Point Scale Directions: Circle yes or no to indicate whether you agree or disagree with statement. 1. I read books in my spare time. Yes No 2. I prefer fiction to nonfiction books. Yes No 3. I think reading is fun. Yes No

Affective Instrument Examples Likert Scale Directions: Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement by circling the appropriate response. 1. I read books in my spare time. Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 2. I prefer fiction to nonfiction books. Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree 3. I think reading is fun. Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Activity 1: Try An Instrument  What type of affective instrument was presented and how did you know what is was?  Respondents indicate to which extent they agree or disagree with each statement.  Scores 1-5 assigned for negatively worded statements  Scores 5-1 assigned for positively worded statements

Affective Instrument Examples 1. I read books in my spare time. Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree I prefer fiction to nonfiction books. Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree I think reading is fun. Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Scoring Likert Scales  The overall score suggests whether the individual’s attitude is favorable or unfavorable  To get the mean attitude score, sum up the weights (assigned score) for the options and divide by the number of questions  Try scoring your own response

Use of Affective Instruments  Determine current performance  Progress towards goals (behavioral and attitudinal)  Parents/teachers/learners will know current performance  Assess children with disabilities better

Advantages 1. They are quick and economical to administer and score. 2. They are easily adapted to most attitude measurement situations. 3. They provide direct and reliable assessment of attitudes when scales are well constructed. 4. They lend themselves well to item analysis procedures.

Disadvantages 1. Results are easily faked where individuals want to present a false impression of their attitudes. 2. Intervals between points on the scale do not represent equal changes in attitude for all individuals. 3. Internal consistency of the scale may be difficult to achieve. 4. Good attitude statements take time to construct.

How would you measure the students’ attitudes toward this lecture?

References Jacobs, R. (nd). Educational research: Instruments. Retrieved from cobs/EDU%208603/lessons/instruments.ppt cobs/EDU%208603/lessons/instruments.ppt Kubiszyn, T., & Borich, G. (2007). Educational testing and measurement: Classroom application and practice (8 ed). New York: Wiley.