tion, i.e., profit maximization (economic area). A third group were questions 

 which pertained to the influence of market regulations and restrictions on 

 an operation which attempted to equate milk receipts and fluid sales (market 

 restrictive area). The last group of content questions considered the dealer's 

 personal reasons for liking or not liking this kind of balancing (personal 

 area). The responses to the questions in these four content areas also were 

 designed to measure how strongly the respondents felt about their attitude. 

 In addition, questions were included in the schedule to measure the degree 

 of decidedness in the attitudes of these dealers. s 



Assuming the questions in each area would form reliable content scales 

 and rank the dealers from more favorable to less favorable, the measure of 

 strength of feeling would indicate the zero point of intensity ( region of 

 indifference) where the dealers shifted from favorable to unfavorable. The 

 questions on decidedness would give a measure of the degree to which the 

 three selected sub-areas — economic, market restrictive, and personal — 

 influence the general content area. 9 



-' 



The Findings 



Figure 1 shows diagramatically the final results of the attitude analysis 

 for the general content area. In diagram "A", the decidedness component of 

 an attitude is related to the general content area. Also shown, is the zero 

 point of intensity (region of indifference) where the population shifts from 

 unfavorable to favorable as determined by the intensity analysis. Diagram 

 "B" is a schematic presentation of diagram "A" showing on a single line 

 the content axis, the cutting and bending points of decidedness, and the 

 zero point of intensity. 



The attitudes of the 201 dealers toward balancing receipts with fluid sales 

 can be taken as representative of all independent milk dealers of small and 

 medium size. This assumption can be made since scalogram analysis tests 

 the reliability of the dealer sample as well as the questions. 



The general content area — Reading from diagram "B" of Figure 1, 

 we find that 21.5 per cent of the dealers are not favorable to balancing re- 

 ceipts with fluid sales — the remaining 78.5 per cent are favorable. However, 

 dealers in each of these two categories are not uniformly decided in their 

 attitude. The 21.5 per cent who are unfavorable toward balancing receipts 

 and fluid sales are all undecided in their attitude. Of the 78.5 per cent who 

 are favorable toward balancing receipts and fluid sales, 18 per cent are 

 undecided and the remaining 60.5 per cent are decided. The reasons why 

 they are decided or undecided is resolved by an analysis of the three sub- 

 areas — economic, market restrictive, and personal. 



Reasons for the general attitude — The analysis which follows is based 

 on a schematic presentation of the decidedness component related to the 

 general content area and to the economic, market restrictive, and personal 

 sub-areas of content, Figure 2. This relationship of the three sub-areas to 

 the general content area permits an interpretation of the reasons for the 

 general attitude toward balancing 



H.V. it il mumv^ u^„ ^^ ~t» u *.v,.u Q . 



8 See Appendix I for a list of the questions used in the attitude scale. Since in 

 scalogram analysis the questions define the subject area being measured, the term 

 "social reasons" might describe better the area referred to above as personal area. 



9 See Appendix II for a description of the technique. 



15 



