Attitudes are defined as long lasting evaluations we hold about ourselves, other people and objects and issues. Attitudes are said to have a direction, as they are positive or negative
The tripartite model - behaviour, affect and cognition Attitude formation is said to operate on the tripartite model Direct experience and observation of others can influence an attitude
Observation types Parties are generally unaware Direct structured observation: observing unaware participants Participant observation: the researcher joins the activity and observes the behaviour of others
Qualitative self-reports: Open ended interviews: individuals comment freely on a specific issue, large amt of info, rich source of ideas but sifting thru info is time consuming, and is up to interpretation by the researcher. Focus group: 6 to 8 people moderated by the experimenter, and are asked to engage in conversation about specific "focus" questions. Used for market research, politics etc.
Quantitative self-reports:
Fixed response questions create a fixed response interview, Ie how many times do you do X, with fixed answers to choose from. The data is quantitative and can show clear correlation between variables, Ie age and climate change belief.
Key features of a rating scale: provide rating intensity and also direction. Ie strongly agree, strongly disagree. Likert scales have many questions like this that show an overall opinion about a topic, ie lots of questions about fast fashion shows your overall stance