Adjective Rating Scales

A young man died from the combined cardiovascular and respiratory depressant effects of hydromorphone and alcohol. He fell asleep, the serious nature of which was not recognised by those around him. Post-mortem analysis revealed alcohol and hydromorphone concentrations of 90 mg% and 100 nanograms/mL, respectively, neither of which is particularly excessive. A study in 9 healthy subjects found that pre-treatment with hydromorphone 1 or 2 mg did not significantly affect the subject-rated effects of alcohol 0.5 or 1 g/kg. However, hydromorphone enWiced the sedative scores of alcohol on the adjective rating scale." See also, controlled-release opioids, below. 

Profile of Mood States. Profile of Mood States (POMS) self-rating scale is used in both normals and psychiatric outpatients to evaluate feelings, affect, and mood. It has been widely used in medicine trials. The 65 adjectives included in this test may be used to rate the present and/or previous week. This test requires from 5 to 10... 

For reasons of expediency and objectivity, and particularly in the case of more extensive studies, questions are preferably submitted in writing, i.e. in some form of self-rating scale. Here one can distinguish between symptom checklists, adjective checklists, semantic differentials and visual analog scales. 

One final common inclusion in many studies of occupational behavioral toxicology and in some test batteries is assessments of symptoms experienced by those exposed to chemicals. While this might be perceived as an ostensibly simple procedure, it entails numerous potential confounds. These evaluations are typically administered via questionnaires. Items for the questionnaire must be carefully constructed with respect to not only the choices of items but also the wording of the text and the manner in which the response is recorded. Clearly, the motivation of the subject in answering the questions must be considered. One problem can arise when the list of symptoms includes only those that are associated with the toxicant of concern. It is necessary to include symptoms that are not associated with the particular toxicant under evaluation so that some assessment of the tendency of the subject to respond positively to all symptoms can be evaluated. Several such evaluations of subjective and mood states are available. The most widely used is the Profile of Mood States (POMS), which consists of 65 adjectives of various moods that the subject answers according to a 5-point rating scale. The POMS has been used extensively in the evaluation of the acute effects of CNS drugs and toxicants. 

Stimuli located near one another are more similar in odor quality. Adjectives were projected through the multidimensional space by regression techniques. The numbers in parentheses reflect the correlations between the mean adjective ratings for each of the stimuli on a semantic differential scale and the projection of the stimuli on the adjective... 

The adjective antonym pairs in this study were boring fun looks easy difficnlt to use looks robust fragile would look nice or terrible in my home modem traditional attractive ugly looks cheap expensive high low quahty decorative not decorative looks rehable umeliable. In the electronic version of the qnestionnaire the hst of words/terms was randomly ordered for each product to avoid bias during completion. Each respondent was asked to rate each pah of antonyms for each product on a 10-point semantic differential scale, with the opposites anchored at each end. The respondents were also asked if they would buy the dimmer switch if it was to be used on a standard (floor) lamp. Demographic... 

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