Methods Used for Measuring Public Opinion

Five methods that have been used by investigators for measuring opinion about various public issues have been selected for review. The method of construction was chosen as a basis for classification. (i) The questionnaire method consists of a series of unscaled questions or statements selected by a few judges to represent the opinions. (2) In the ranking method a number of items representing either the object of opinion or the opinion itself is arranged in rank order. (3) The rating method refers to selfratings or ratings by others on an arbitrary scale with respect to a certain opinion. (4) In the method of paired comparison two items of a pair of words, phrases, or sentences representing the opinion are compared by the subject. He is asked to indicate which of the two items is preferable. (5) The main principle involved in the method of equal appearing intervals is that statements representing the opinions are sorted into a number of piles, say 9 or ii, according to the degree of opinion expressed in the statements. Arrangement of the piles is such that the differences between the piles appear to the subject approximately equal.