G. Haddock et Mp. Zanna, ON THE USE OF OPEN-ENDED MEASURES TO ASSESS ATTITUDINAL COMPONENTS, British journal of social psychology, 37, 1998, pp. 129-149
The present paper describes open-ended (i.e. free-response) measures t
hat have been used to assess the cognitive, affective, and behavioural
components of attitude. After defining the attitude concept and outli
ning the open-ended measures, the paper describes the results of vario
us studies that have utilized this response format to assess the favou
rability and structure of attitudes. Each study discussed will also in
dicate how the use of open-ended measures led to the generation of res
earch questions that might not otherwise have been possible. The paper
concludes by discussing some other domains of attitude research that
can benefit from the use of open-ended measures.