An approach to the construction of affective evaluation instruments

This paper describes a method by which researchers can construct affective evaluation instruments. This method emphasizes a set of key questions which can be asked as the researcher begins to define an affective construct, to decide on a measurement procedure, and to develop a framework upon which to base items. A "mapping sentence" is used to combine elements of a construct in ways which suggest types of items that can be generated. The method, which is heuristic, is applied to a construct which presumes to describe personal perceptions of adequacy as a student. The paper is based on the assumption that affective evaluation instruments ought to be constructed first as the result of a priori specifications of a construct and the results then submitted to empirical manipulations.