Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery

Abstract

The 60-item Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery (SUSSOB) was developed in 1950 as a component of a comprehensive, university-wide self-assessment initiative. The primary goal of the battery was to gather specific information regarding student attitudes and opinions concerning the efficacy and content of the institution’s program of general education. The instrument is structured into ten distinct scales, covering a broad spectrum of intellectual and civic domains, including Politics, Government, Civic Relations, The World, Experts, Science, Philosophy, Music, Art, and Literature.

A unique aspect of the SUSSOB methodology involved comparing student responses against those provided by subject-matter experts (typically faculty members). The consensus response of the experts for each item was established as the “correct” key, allowing for the quantification of alignment or divergence between student viewpoints and established academic perspectives. This differential scoring approach provides valuable insights for institutional research, helping administrators and faculty to identify areas requiring curriculum development and improvement efforts within the general education framework at Syracuse University.

Keywords

Syracuse University, Self-Survey Opinion Battery, student attitudes, general education, curriculum assessment, civic relations, educational measurement, expert opinion, psychological scale.

Authors

Downie, N. M., Pace, C. R., Troyer, M. E.

Purpose

The core purpose of the Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery is to provide a systematic evaluation of student engagement and disposition toward topics deemed central to a well-rounded general education curriculum. By measuring attitudes across ten diverse intellectual and social domains, the scale sought to determine if the university’s educational programs were successfully cultivating informed and thoughtful perspectives among the student body.

Furthermore, the scale was intended to serve as an internal institutional research tool. By highlighting specific areas where student opinions diverged significantly from those of the faculty experts, the SUSSOB facilitated data-driven decision-making related to curriculum reform, resource allocation, and the enhancement of teaching methodologies necessary to achieve the stated learning outcomes of the general education program.

Construct

The Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery measures a multidimensional construct best described as Student Worldview and Intellectual Engagement within the context of university-level liberal arts training. This construct is operationalized through ten distinct sub-scales, each assessing attitudes toward complex public, scientific, philosophical, and aesthetic issues.

The ten underlying domains, ranging from practical matters like Politics and Government to abstract concepts such as Philosophy and Art, collectively capture the breadth of perspectives students hold on critical societal issues and academic disciplines. The scale specifically focuses on gauging the degree to which student opinions align with or deviate from the consensus views held by academic specialists, thereby offering a metric of successful intellectual integration achieved through the general education experience.

Validity

The validity of the Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery primarily rests on its comprehensive content validity, derived from the selection of 60 items covering ten areas deemed essential to a general education program by the university’s academic leadership. The development process, involving faculty experts in determining the content and the ‘correct’ scoring key, lends face validity and expert endorsement to the instrument’s design.

While specific statistical evidence of concurrent or predictive validity is not detailed in the available source material, the comparison scoring method (student responses versus expert consensus) inherently functions as a measure of criterion validity, utilizing expert opinion as the external criterion against which student learning and perspective development are judged. The wide scope of topics ensures that the scale captures diverse perspectives relevant to the intended construct of intellectual engagement.

Reliability

Specific statistical reliability coefficients (such as Cronbach’s Alpha or test-retest reliability) are not detailed within the provided source documentation for the Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery. However, the systematic development process, which involved structuring the instrument into ten distinct, presumably internally consistent, scales (each containing six items) suggests an effort toward achieving adequate internal consistency for each domain.

Future researchers utilizing or adapting this historical instrument would need to conduct modern psychometric analyses to establish current standards of reliability, particularly considering the historical context and the subjective nature of the attitude items presented in the 1950s.

Factor Analysis

Information regarding formal factor analysis conducted during the original development of the Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery (1950) is not provided in the source material. Given the instrument’s clear organization into ten theoretically derived scales (Politics, Government, Civic Relations, The World, Experts, Science, Philosophy, Music, Art, and Literature), it is assumed that the developers relied on theoretical and content grouping rather than exploratory statistical methods to define the structure.

A contemporary factor analysis would be necessary to confirm whether the 60 items empirically load onto the intended ten factors, or if a smaller, more parsimonious set of underlying factors (such as general socio-political liberalism or cultural appreciation) accounts for the variance in student responses across the battery.

Instrument

Test Type: Opinion and Attitude Battery (Non-cognitive assessment)

Format: 60 statements requiring a choice from a 3-point response scale.

Language Available: English (Original development).

Population Group: University students.

Age Group: Typically 18-22 years (Traditional undergraduate population).

Population Details: Students enrolled at Syracuse University during the mid-20th century, participating in a university-wide self-survey.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate agreement, disagreement, or neutrality with each statement. Scoring is based on alignment with a pre-established key derived from the majority responses of subject-matter experts (faculty members).

Keywords

Attitude scale, student assessment, liberal arts, N. M. Downie, C. R. Pace, M. E. Troyer, educational policy, 3-point scale, academic opinion, psychological measurement.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available/Applicable (Historical publication)

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available/Applicable (Historical publication)

Correspondence Address: Downie, N. M., Pace, C. R., & Troyer, M. E. (Affiliations related to Syracuse University at the time of publication)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1950

Permissions and Fee: Permissions must be sought from the journal publisher, Educational and Psychological Measurement, or the relevant intellectual property holders, as this is a published academic instrument. Commercial use status is unknown; academic use typically requires appropriate citation.

Reference’s

Downie, N. M., Pace, C. R., & Troyer, M. E. (1950). The opinions of Syracuse University students on some widely discussed current issues. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 10, 628-636.

Items of the Syracuse University Self-Survey Opinion Battery

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way. Items rated on a 3-point response scale: 1 = Agree, 2 = No opinion at all, 3 = Disagree.

Politics

1. Sending letters and telegrams to congressmen has little influence on legislation.
2. Political parties are run by insiders who are not concerned with public opinion.
3. When the public is really concerned about an issue, its judgment is usually correct and unassailable, no matter how complex the issue.
4. In some elections there is not much point in voting because the outcome is fairly certain.
5. Pressure groups are useful and important features of representative government.
6. On most issues we should expect our representatives to vote according to their convictions, even though they may not always reflect the opinion of their constituents.

Government

7. The best government is one which governs least.
8. Democracy depends fundamentally on the existence of free business enterprise.
9. Communism and Fascism are basically and historically similar.
10. The most serious danger to democracy in this country comes from Communists and Communist-dominated organizations.
11. Government planning should be strictly limited, for it almost inevitably results in the loss of essential liberties and freedom.
12. Individual liberty and justice under law are nor possible in Socialist countries.

Civic Relations

13. All Americans‒Negroes, Jews, the foreign born, and others‒should have equal opportunity in social, economic, and political affiars.
14. Familiarity breeds contempt.
15. Foreigners usually have peculiar and annoying habits.
16. Children of minority groups or other races should play among themselves.
17. Most children, these days, need more discipline.
18. Agitators and trouble-makers are more likely to be foreign born than native Americans.

The World

19. We are not likely to have lasting peace until the U. S. and the Allies are stronger than all the other countries.
20. If we lower our tariffs to permit more foreign goods in this country, we will lower our standard of living.
21. Deep idealogical differences between countries are irreconcilable.
22. If we allow more immigrants into this country, we will lower our standards of culture.
23. The United Nations should have the right to make conclusions which would bind members to a course of action.
24. Over the next decade, we must try to make the standard of living in the rest of the world rise more rapidly than in our own country.

Experts

25. The predictions of economists about the future are no better than guesses.
26. Doctors’ diagnoses of illnesses turn out to be wrong almost as often as right.
27. Parents know as much about how to teach children as public school teachers know.
28. The findings of psychologists are not helpful in fitting workers to jobs.
29. Contemporary painters, designers, playwrights, and musicians are engaged in work as important as my own.
30. A person in a skilled trade is worth as much to society as one in a profession.

Science

31. There are many worthwhile and important concepts which can not be proved scientifically.
32. The harnessing of atomic energy will bring about fundamental changes in our economic and social order.
33. The government should promote and subsidize research in the social sciences.
34. There will be as many or more scientific discoveries, inventions, and technological changes in the world during the next fifty years as there were during the past fifty years.
35. We now have enough scientific and technological knowledge to substantially eliminate poverty, disease, and ignorance in the world, if we would only apply our knowledge.
36. The government should promote and subsidize research in the physical and biological sciences.

Philosophy

37. What one does with his life is not very important, except to oneself.
38. If the goal is worthwhile, almost any method is justified in attaining it.
39. Personal integrity of conduct and continuous searching for truth are the most important goals in life for me.
40. A contract is morally binding; one should never default on his pIedged word.
41. Religion has little to offer intelligent, scientific people today.
42. The greatest satisfactions in life for me come from financial success, influence, and prestige.

Music

43. What is good and bad in music is a matter of personal taste.
44. The tendency of some modem composers to use strange harmonies and discords makes poor music.
45. Music is a form of expression which normal people are not capable of understanding.
46. The main thing about good music is its lovely melodies.
47. There has been little or no outstanding music composed in the 20th century.
48. Radio should give people much more opportunity to hear good serious music.

Art

49. What is good and bad in art is a matter of personal taste.
50. Art is a side line, not part of the main business of life.
51. Modern painting‒impressionism, expressionism, cubism, surrealism and the rest‒is mostly the work of crackpots.
52. Many paintings which were considered radical at the first are regarded as classics today.
53. New houses should be built of modem design rather than Colonial, Cape Cod, Spanish or some older style.
54. Electric lighting fixtures should not look like candles.

Literature

55. Writers who use a different and cryptic style such as Gertrude Stein or James Joyce-should not be taken seriously.
56. Good writing by promising young writers is more likely to be found in Harpers or the Atlantic Monthly than in Colliers or The Saturday Evening Post.
57. Literature should not question the basic moral concept of society.
58. Hollywood versions of novels or plays are usually as good as the originals.
59. The current list of best sellers in fiction and non-fiction does not provide a very good index of literary merit.
60. Literature should be judged primarily by its contribution to our understanding of the social order.