title: Measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this paper is to assist those engaged in research dealing with attitudes towards persons with disabilities by presenting a catalogue of various attitude measurement methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of the methodological and psychological literatures on the measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The review uncovered 10 direct methods to measure attitudes, in which the respondents are aware that they are participating in an experiment and 14 indirect methods in four categories that are not plagued by attitude-distorting influences because the respondents are not aware that their attitudes are being measured. A discussion of each method with examples is provided, followed by implications for rehabilitation practitioners, rehabilitation education and training, and rehabilitation researchers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The investigation of attitudes towards persons with disabilities requires innovative experimental methods and psychometrically sound instruments that are reliable, valid, and multidimensional. Without such instruments, it will not be possible to obtain conclusive answers to important research questions concerning the relationship between these attitudes and the acceptance and integration of persons with disabilities into society.
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Indiana State University, Terre Haute 47809, USA. soedean@indstate.edu
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Antonak
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Livneh
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results