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Testing a Unidimensional, Qualitative Unfolding Model for Attitudinal or Developmental Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Mark L. Davison
Mark L. Davison*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
Requests for reprints should be addressed to Mark L, Davison, Department of Social, Psychological, and Philosophical Foundations of Education, 330 Burton Hall, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455.
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Abstract

Assuming that subject responses rank order stimuli by preference, statistical methods are presented for testing the hypothesis that responses conform to a unidimensional, qualitative unfolding model and to an a priori stimulus ordering. The model postulates that persons and stimulus variables are ordered along a single continuum and that subjects most prefer stimuli nearest their own position. The underlying continuum need not form an interval scale of the stimulus attribute. The general assumptions of the test for the unfolding model make it suitable for the analysis of structure in attitude responses, preference data, and developmental stage data.

Keywords

chi squareindependencecontingency tablespsychological scaling
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 1979 , pp. 179 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

This research was supported by a grant from the U.S. Public Health Service (Grant No. 1-R01-MH27861-01) to the University of Minnesota. I wish to thank Sanford Weisberg for his helpful suggestions. I also wish to thank Karen Kitchener and Patricia King for letting me use their data.

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