Evaluation and Revision of an Instrument to Measure Prejudice Toward the Amish

The McGuigan Attitudes Toward Amish scale is the only scale measuring prejudice toward the Amish. A tool such as this would be very valuable in measuring prejudice toward the Amish in situations where government/legal issues... [ view full abstract ]

The McGuigan Attitudes Toward Amish scale is the only scale measuring prejudice toward the Amish. A tool such as this would be very valuable in measuring prejudice toward the Amish in situations where government/legal issues become confused with local feeling, a very familiar scenario as Amish face legal pressures from municipalities across the country.

In attempting to implement this scale in Northeast Missouri, we found problems with the tool: a university student population of largely urban origin was compared to the local rural population, and no significant differences were found on any scale items. In addition, respondents expressed frustration about several questions. We administered a second round of surveys to university students, asking them after the survey to document their frustrations. Based on these responses, we will adjust the instrument and administered it to both the local northeastern rural Missouri population and university students. Results of this study will be completed by May 2018.