CHAPTER 10 ASSESSING AFFECTIVE OUTCOMES

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CHAPTER 10 - ASSESSING AFFECTIVE OUTCOMES
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I. Suggested Uses of Affective Measures

• A. Classroom Application, e.g. career exploration
• B. Screening and selection, e.g. identify school
  dropouts
• C. Counseling, e.g. student self-exploration
• D. Research, e.g. relationship of test anxiety
  and achievement
• E. Program evaluation, e.g. effect of new math
  program on self-concept

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II. Approaches to the Assessment of Affective
Outcomes

• A. Amount of money spent on activity or product
• B. Amount of time spent in activity
• C. Verbal expressions (e.g. attitude scales)
• D. Attention/distraction

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• E. Fund of information
• F. Reaction/decision time
• G. Personal document analysis (e.g. diaries)
• H. Sociometry

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• I. Apperception methods (e.g. projective devices)
• J. Activity level
• K. Observations
• L. Specific performances/behaviors

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• M. Physiological measures
• N. Memory measures
• O. Simulation

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III. Writing Items for Self-Report Affective
Measures
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• A. Considerable overlap with guidelines for
  writing test items, e.g.
• 1. Avoid complex and ambiguous language
• 2. Avoid universals and absolutes, (e.g. all,
  none)
• 3. Avoid multiple ideas and negatives
• 4. Avoid items reflecting universal acceptance
  or rejection

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• B. In addition statements should
• 1. Refer to the present
• 2. Not be factual
• 3. Reflect a range of affectivity

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IV. Corey's Simplified Scale Construction
Technique
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• A. Collect pool of statements reflecting range of
  attitudes
• B. Select best statements
• C. Create response scale (e.g., five point verbal
  scale Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree,
  Strongly Disagree)
• D. Pilot test instrument
• E. Score, taking into account direction of
  statement (e.g. Agree with positive statements,
  Disagree with negative statements)

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V. Method of Summated Ratings (Likert)

• A. Similar to Corey method but
• 1. Have judges evaluate degree of favorableness
  of statements (80 agreement)
• 2. Use item analysis technique to select items
  (e.g. mean difference in rating of particular
  statement for high and low scorers based on total
  score)

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VI. Free Response and Opinionnaire Methods

• A. Require carefully focused questions to avoid
  "wandering"

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• B. Enjoy advantages of
• 1. Face validity
• 2. Feeling of "ownership of response" - "these
  are my words"
• 3. "Directness" of purpose and response

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• C. Disadvantages include
• 1. Labor to analyze - content analysis
• 2. Problems in aggregating data
• 3. Subjectivity in analyzing responses

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• D. When constructing questions try
• 1. To be brief
• 2. Not to suggest an answer
• 3. To phrase questions broad enough to allow
  respondent to express range of opinion
• 4. To limit length

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• 5. To make sure respondent understands purpose
  of questionnaire
• 6. To control administration
• 7. To pilot/field test items and instruments

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• E. Content analysis of free response material
• 1. Identify units of analysis (e.g. sentence)
• 2. Group units into categories
• 3. If possible have independent analyses by two
  or more evaluators
• 4. Summarize data in form of frequencies and
  percents
• 5. Get sample size as large as practical

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VII. Affective Measurement and the Diagnosis of
Learning Difficulties
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• A. Affective measures find application in
• 1. Classroom
• 2. Screening and selection
• 3. Counseling
• 4. Research
• 5. Program evaluation

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• B. In counseling applications tend to be in the
  area of
• 1. Educational planning
• 2. Career planning
• 3. Life planning
• 4. Personal development

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• C. Diagnosis of learning difficulties also
  possible with affective measures (e.g. attitude,
  interest). Process involves
• 1. Use of variety of approaches
• 2. Identification of problem
• 3. Hypothesis generation
• 4. Assessment
• 5. Diagnosis
• 6. Remediation

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• D. Some concerns and cautions in using affective
  measures
• A. Foremost concern is with relevance
• B. Need for standardized scoring and
  interpretation of voluntary administration
• C. Protection of individual rights and against
  invasion of privacy by full disclosure of purpose
  (confidentiality)

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• D. Careful about applicability of norms
• E. Be sure to examine reliability and validity
  data
• F. Never use test score alone