The Pocket Universal Methods of Design, Revised and Expanded

094	Semantic Differential

A linguistic tool designed to measure people’s attitudes toward a topic, event, object, or activity

• The semantic differential asks respondents to indicate where on a continuum of antonyms a concept is best described (e.g., pleasant–unpleasant).
• The three dimensions to classify concepts are evaluation (e.g., valuable–worthless), potency (e.g., strong–weak), and activity (e.g., active–passive).
• Concepts should be chosen based on research objectives and should be meaningful to respondents.
• Poles should be randomized so that negative and positive connotations don’t always fall on the same side.
• A seven-point scale is preferred because it provides a neutral midpoint, which could indicate apathy, indecisiveness, ...