Semantic differential

Semantic differential is a type of a rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events, and concepts. The connotations are used to derive the attitude towards the given object, event or concept. Osgood's semantic differential was an application of his more general attempt to measure the semantics or meaning of words, particularly adjectives, and their referent concepts. The respondent is asked to choose where his or her position lies, on a scale between two bipolar adjectives (for example: "Adequate-Inadequate", "Good-Evil" or "Valuable-Worthless"). Semantic differentials can be used to measure opinions, attitudes andvalues on a psychometrically controlled scale.

Theoretical background[edit]
Nominalists and realists[edit]
Theoretical underpinnings of Charles E. Osgood's semantic differential have roots in the medieval [citation needed] controversy between the nominalists and realists. Nominalists asserted that only real things are entities and that abstractions from these entities, called universals, are mere words. The realists held that universals have an independent objective existence either in a realm of their own or in the mind of God. Osgoods theoretical work also bears affinity to linguistics and general semantics and [citation needed] relates to Korzybski's structural differential.

Use of adjectives[edit]
The development of this instrument provides an interesting insight into the border area between linguistics and psychology. People have been describing each other since they developed the ability to speak. Most adjectives can also be used as personality descriptors. The occurrence of thousands of adjectives in English is an attestation of the subtleties in descriptions of persons and their behavior available to speakers of English. Roget's Thesaurus is an early attempt to classify most adjectives into categories and was used within this context to reduce the number of adjectives to manageable subsets, suitable for factor analysis.

Evaluation, potency, and activity[edit]

Osgood and his colleagues performed a factor analysis of large collections of semantic differential scales and found three recurring attitudes that people use to evaluate words and phrases: evaluation, potency, and activity. Evaluation loads highest on the adjective pair 'good-bad'. The 'strong-weak' adjective pair defines the potency factor. Adjective pair 'active-passive' defines the activity factor. These three dimensions of affective meaning were found to be cross-cultural universals in a study of dozens of cultures. This factorial structure makes intuitive sense. When our ancestors encountered a person, the initial perception had to be whether that person represents a danger. Is the person good or bad? Next, is the person strong or weak? Our reactions to a person markedly differ if perceived as good and strong, good and weak, bad and weak, or bad and strong. Subsequently, we might extend our initial classification to include cases of persons who actively threaten us or represent only a potential danger, and so on. The evaluation, potency and activity factors thus encompass a detailed descriptive system of personality. Osgood's semantic differential measures these three factors. It contains sets of adjective pairs such as warm-cold, bright-dark, beautiful-ugly, sweet-bitter, fair-unfair, brave-cowardly, meaningful-meaningless. The studies of Osgood and his colleagues revealed that the evaluative factor accounted for most of [1] the variance in scalings, and related this to the idea of attitudes.

Usage[edit]
The semantic differential is today one of the most widely used scales used in the measurement of attitudes. One of the reasons is the versatility of the items. The bipolar adjective pairs can be used for a wide variety of subjects, and as such the scale is nicknamed "the ever ready battery" of the attitude [2] researcher.

Statistical properties[edit]
Five items, or 5 bipolar pairs of adjectives, have been proven to yield reliable findings, which highly [3] correlate with alternative Likert numerical measures of the same attitude One problem with this scale is that its psychometric properties and level of measurement are [2] disputed. The most general approach is to treat it as an ordinal scale, but it can be argued that the neutral response (i.e. the middle alternative on the scale) serves as an arbitrary zero point, and that the intervals between the scale values can be treated as equal, making it an interval scale. A detailed presentation on the development of the semantic differential is provided in the monumental [4] book, Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning. David R. Heise's Surveying [5] Cultures provides a contemporary update with special attention to measurement issues when using computerized graphic rating scales.

Semantic differential
The semantic differential is a scale used for measuring the meaning of things and concepts. There are two aspects of meaning: denotative and connotative. The semantic differential measuresconnotative meaning. Denotation - what a name or concept refers to (denote - to mark out plainly, to indicate) Connotation - the suggestive significance of a word, apart from its explicit and recognized meaning

Consider automobiles or school mascots. Names such as "Jaguar" or "Huskies" denote animals. Their connotation is power. In contrast, the "Oregon Ducks" project a different image or connotative meaning.

Creating the scale

The scale is set up using polar adjectives (opposite-meaning terms) at each end. After examining the connotative meaning of thousands of concepts, Charles Osgood and his associates identified three major dimensions of meaning: strength, value, and activity. The first two examples below fit the theme of strength. The second two represent value, and the last two illustrate activity.
Strong Decisive Good Cheap Active Lazy ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ Weak Indecisive Bad Expensive Passive Industrious

The respondent is asked to rate an object, person or any concept, by putting a mark on one of the 7 spaces along each dimension.

Layout and length

It is not necessary to use these particular sets of adjectives, or cover all three themes. Any set can be substituted, depending on the purpose of the research. To avoid fatigue or boring the respondent, do not use more than 20 lines, and 10-12 adjective pairs is better. Using fewer is acceptable. The location of the positive attributes should be varied from left to right. Do not put all the "good" adjectives on one side, as it might bias the responses. Provide clear instructions for the respondent so that they put their marks in the right place. Otherwise, some people will circle the colons (:).
Instructions: Make your ratings by checking the appropriate space. For example,

Rate the current Secretary-General of the United Nations on each of the following dimensions: Strong Decisive Good Cheap Active Lazy ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ ____:____:____:____:____:____:____ Weak Indecisive Bad Expensive Passive Industrious

Although a 7-point scale is common, it is acceptable to provide fewer choices, 5 or even 3. For example,
Rate the park on the following dimensions: Safe____:____:____Dangerous Dirty____:____:____Clean Quiet____:____:____Noisy

Scoring The blanks are numbered from 1 to 7 and then the responses are averaged for each dimension. The average is plotted on the form and provides a profile of the connotation of the target concept. Here is an example of semantic differential results comparing the connotative meaning of a university and state college system. The differences on each dimension can be statistically analyzed.

State College University

If respondents, despite the instructions, circle the colon, you can score the dimension using a midpoint. For example, if they circle the colon between the first and second space, score it as 1.5. Results can be presented in a figure, as above. Or you can list the average scores on each dimension, and then draw conclusions. Limitations The semantic differential requires respondents that are intelligent and cooperative. It requires respondents with a good knowledge of language, who are willing and able to make fine distinctions. It would not appropriate for children, unless presented in a simplified form.

Summary
A scale is a series of order steps at fixed intervals. Scales can be used to measure subjective characteristics such as attitudes, opinion, and preferences. There are 3 types of single-dimension scale (respondents to provide a single rating):

Numeric - a single number rating (e.g., on a scale from 1 to 10) Graphic - check mark along a single line Step - check one of several levels
Comparative ratings proved a standard of comparison.

Single-standard comparison - the same standard is used for each comparison Paired comparsions - all items are presented in pairs and compared Frequency of behavior - rater indicates how often a particular event or behavior has
occurred. Single-dimension scales (which give absolute ratings) are easiest to construct. Pairedcomparisons may be more valid, but limit the response to the comparison with the standard. Using a frequency of behavior scale is a good way of reducing stereotyped responses and halo effects. Using multi-item scales increases reliability and validity over a single item measure. The four levels of measurement are

Nominal - levels, quality Ordinal - order, indicates direction as well as level Interval - equal intervals, along with direction and level Ratio - zero point, as well as equal intervals, direction, and level
Scales can be adapted for use in consumer ratings. Sensory evaluation involves the relationship between physical and psychological dimensions. Both single standard and paired comparison techniques are used. Blind trials are those in which the participant is unaware of the stimulus label (e.g., brand or source). In double-blind trials, both the participant and experimenter are kept unaware.

Attitudes are people's feeling toward and evaluation of objects and events. They
possess direction (for or against) and intensity (strength). A Likert scale is often used to assess attitudes. Construction involves collecting items, finding out their direction and keeping only the items that indicate direction (positive or negative), and using either a 5-point or 7-point scale to indicate intensity. Attitude scales are limited in assessing complex feelings and opinions, and are not good at predicting behavior. The semantic differential measures connotation - the suggestive or symbolic aspects of things. It uses dimension with polar (opposite) terms at either end of a 7point scale.

Semantic differential scale

A semantic differential scale is a list of opposite adjectives. It is a method invented by C.E. Osgood (1957) in order to measure the connotative meaning of cultural objects. Semantic differential scales are used in a variety of social science research but it also is used in marketing and practical, user experience research and therapy. Sometimes semantic differentials are also known as polarities.

Analysis
The average score for each word defines a sort of "correlation" between the word and the object being tested. In simple market analysis, the average score for the whole scale defines the overall quality of the object being tested. Of course, that only works if the scale's items represent negative/positive). In this sense it is used like a Likert scale. In Osgood's original research, factor analysis showed the emergence of three underlying components that have been named: Evaluation, potency and activity (EPA). The Evaluation dimension is tapped by the good, nice versus bad, awful scale just mentioned. The Potency dimension corresponds to a scale that contrasts powerful, big with powerless, little. A scale for assessing the Activity dimension contrasts fast, noisy, active with slow, quiet, inactive. Pan -cultural multivariate analyses have demonstrated that these EPA dimensions are clearly recognizable in multiple cultures and a variety of languages. (Heise, 2001).

4 Examples
4.1 Electronic Marketing Quality (EMQ)

Verhagen and Meents (2007:22) identify the following dimensions: Layout Ease of Use Contacting the intermediary Institutional control Community Contacting sellers Seller information Product information Pricing mechanisms Assortment Settlement Meeting sellers

4.2 Onscreen typefaces

Shaikh (2009) used the following differentials with Osgoods classic potency, evaluative and activity dimensions: Potency reflects typefaces that are seen as having strength, power, or force. Evaluative reflects typefaces that are viewed as having value, worth, and importance. Activity reflects typefaces that are considered to be full of energy, movement, and action.

The items were presented in this order (factor dimension in parenthesis) Passive - Active (activity) Warm -- Cool Strong -- Weak Bad -- Good (evaluative) Loud -- Quiet (activity) Old -- Young Cheap -- Expensive (evaluative) Beautiful -- Ugly (evaluative) Happy -- Sad Delicate -- Rugged (potency) Calm -- Excited (activity) Feminine -- Masculine (potency) Hard -- Soft (potency) Fast -- Slow (activity) Relaxed -- Stiff (potency)

4.3 Attitude scale for a web site

(S. Kim MacGregor and Yiping Lou) boring-interesting meaningless-meaningful

important-unimportant, informative-uninformative disorganized-organized easy-difficult

4.4 Websites
From UPA's web maintenance and design, retrieved April 11, 2011. The XXX association whose web site looks like this is: Unfriendly Amateurish Ineffective Dull Outdated date Serious Weak __1 __1 __2 __2 __3 __3 __4 __4 __5 __5 __6 __6 __7 __7 Fun Strong __1 __1 __1 __1 Interesting __1 __2 __3 __4 __5 __6 __7 Up-to__2 __2 __2 __2 __3 __3 __3 __3 __4 __4 __4 __4 __5 __5 __5 __5 __6 __6 __6 __6 __7 __7 __7 __7

Friendly Professional Effective

This visual design is: Cluttered Unbalanced Unpleasant Delicate Confusing __1 __1 __1 __1 __1 __2 __2 __2 __2 __2 __3 __3 __3 __3 __3 __4 __4 __4 __4 __4 __5 __5 __5 __5 __5 __6 __6 __6 __6 __6 __7 __7 __7 __7 __7 Bold Clear Simple

Balanced Pleasant

4.5 Personalities of products

Jordan (2002) found in Simon Lessing's User Experience Design at Sony Ericsson, Kind -- Unkind Honest -- Dishonest Serious-minded -- Light-hearted Bright -- Dim Stable -- Unstable Narcissistic -- Humble Flexible - Inflexible Authoritarian -- Liberal

Value-driven - Non-value driven Extrovert -- Introvert Naive -- Cynical Excessive -- Moderate Conformist -- Rebel Energetic -- Unenergetic Violent - Gentle Complex -- Simple Pessimistic -- Optimistic

Do you have a Rating, Semantic Differential or Likert Scale type question?

Likert Scale:
Our rating scale question type will function in a very similar way. This is typically considered an agree disagree scale. Likert scales are given scores or assigned a weight to each row in the matrix, usually from 1 to 5. The purpose of the likert scale is to sum the scores for each respondent (the rating average), and the intent of the likert is in that the statement will represent different aspects of the same attitude. With this question type, you would typically see around five columns. This is an example of a "satisfaction" likert scale: 1. Not at all satisfied 2. Slightly satisfied 3. Somewhat satisfied 4. Very satisfied 5. Extremely satisfied With SurveyMonkey, we recommend using a Rating Question Type to create a likert scale. If Respondents are given a series of attitude ratings or dimensions. For each dimension, they are asked whether, and how strongly, they feel to each using a point rating scale.

Semantic Differential Scale:

Again, our rating scale question type will work for this. This question type does not label each rating point with an individual descriptive like a likert scale. Instead it places one statement on the far left of the scale and the opposite of that statement on the far right. It uses a numbering system within the scale, and the respondent is asked to pick the number on the scale where they fall between the two statements