Scaling Attitude Items: a Comparison of Scalogram Analysis and Ordering Theory

The study compared an ordering-theoretic method of identifying item hierarchies with scalogram analysis in the evaluation of an eight item attitude measure. The attitude measure assessed "progressive" and "traditional" views of education. Data were collected in a survey of a random sample of 178 parents of public school children. The scalogram analysis revealed that the items did not form a unidimensional and cumulative hierarchy. The ordering-theoretic analysis identified a branched, nonlinear hierarchy which had higher reproducibility and scalability than the linear hierarchy identified by the scalogram analysis. The results support the use of ordering theory in defining item hierarchies in attitudinal measures.