Attitudes toward the Transportation of Nuclear Waste: The Development of a Likert-Type Scale

Abstract

Abstract This five-phase study reports on the development of a scale measuring attitudes toward the transportation of nuclear waste. In the United States, 430 male and 400 female students responded to five separate surveys. Phase 1 yielded 30 Likert-type items with part—whole correlations greater than .58; split-half reliabilities as corrected by the Spearman—Brown formula were .88 and .86. Phases 3, 4, and 5 reported on studies that showed that the Attitudes Toward the Transportation of Nuclear Waste (ATNW) Scale was related to environmental measures, other environmental issues, and political and social attitudes. In general, opposition to the transportation project was related to a liberal sociopolitical perspective.