View/Open - ARAN - National University of Ireland, Galway

55
Chapter 2: Literature Review
second set of 17 items expressing the reverse positive statements. The positive and
negative paired items are separated and distributed at random points in the scale.
Positive items are scored from left to right with “strongly disagree” being one point
and “strongly agree” being six points. Negative items are scored from right to left
with “strongly disagree” being six points and “strongly agree” being one point. The
higher the total score for the scale, the more positive a person is in their attitude to
older people. The instrument’s reliability has been found to be alpha 0.79
(Lambrinou et al., 2005). Holroyd et al. (2009) state that Kogan’s scale is valuable in
nursing research due to its caring dimension.
In 1969 Rosencranz and McNeving developed the “Aging Semantic Differential”
(ASD). The 32-item ASD is used to measure attitudes,and quantify bias and negative
stereotypes toward older people. To date there are no reports on the validity or
reliability of this scale.
The “Facts on Aging Quiz” (FAQ) was devised by Palmore in 1977. According to
Lusk, Williams and Hsuing (1995) the FAQ I and II (Palmore, 1977, 1981) were
designed to assess knowledge and to measure misconceptions regarding older
people. This study compared results on the FAQ I and II administered to freshmen
nursing students. In contrast with Palmore's (1981) findings, the FAQ I and II were
not related (r=0.04) and alpha coefficients were low (0.45 and 0.32 respectively).
However, use of theta coefficients (which make fewer stringent assumptions about
items being parallel) resulted in values of 0.60 and 0.64 respectively. The factors
emerging in this study differed from Palmore's (1977, 1981, 1988) conceptual
structure and explained only 45% of the variance. Results from this study suggest
that while the FAQ I and II may be useful as a stimulus for discussion, revisions and
testing need to be done if they are to be used for research purposes. Palmore (2005)
himself reflected upon his work and highlighted that he started doing his research on
ageist stereotypes at around the same time that Butler (1969) coined the term
“ageism”. Palmore (2005) explained that the FAQ was developed in order to provide
an alternative form of a quiz that would facilitate before and after tests of the effects
of courses and workshops, and by 1997 there were more than 150 known reports of
studies using the quizzes. Palmore (2005) stated that the Facts on Aging