THE EQUAL-INTERVAL NATURE OF SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL SCALES - AN EMPIRICAL-INVESTIGATION USING FIELDERS LEAST PREFERRED COWORKER (LPC) SCALE AND MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION AND CASE III SCALING PROCEDURES

An assumption made in using semantic differential measures is that the adjective pairs used are truly bipolar; otherwise, statistical analys es may yield distorted findings. This article examines the 18 bipolar adjective pairs used in Fiedler's Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) instr ument by using two scaling techniques and a sample of 113 respondents. To replicate and extend previous research, the 36 LPC adjectives were ranked according to their relative interpersonal favorability. The sa me sample also scaled the 36 adjectives using Stevens's magnitude esti mation technique (MET). Both pair-comparison treatment of complete ran ks scaling (under Thurstone's Case III) and the magnitude estimation p rocedure indicated that true bipolarity did not characterize most of t he paired adjectives. Implications for future LPC and semantic differe ntial research are discussed.