Attitudes towards firearms: Categorizing people.

[Vern Humphrey]

My point, exactly. I suspect you could construct a scale from such questions, and corelate it with the subject's attitude on guns.

 

[Owen Sparks]

This is pretty deep but is the best explaination of why the conservative/libertarian tends toward gun rights while the liberal and authoritarian does not.

http://www.friesian.com/types.htm

 

[jfh]

from my POV, harrygunner is on a good track--

maybe the technique here would be to score a subset of (for example) MMPI questions and then see how they sort.

I am now OTL on the MMPI--too long since studying it and involved with its use in therapy--so there might well be other tools that would be more useful.

My bet is that you could design a good test that will have high correlations to existing profiles; I don't think there is a bigger data base than what exists for the MMPI.

Jim H.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

That's good advice -- the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) is thoroughly validated and has a huge database you can draw on.

 

[Warp]

It won't be as simple as just "gun attitudes;" such attitudes are ancillary to other motivating factors.

I agree. Like the saying goes..."Gun control isn't about guns, it's about control".

This does not always hold true, however. I don't list specifics because it is likely to go off topic or be deemed too political, but down here in the South a lot of people are pro gun but very pro control in other facets of life.

 

[Dr_B]

Some of the posts are helpful. Some are not. I'm not unappreciative of comments and opinions, because that is what I solicited in this thread. But I would like to point out that I did say we are in the initial design stage for this study. This isn't my first time conducting research, and I am fully aware of sources such as Psycinfo and Google Scholar.

@ post #20: No it is not backwards. The point is to let the participant self-report their own categorization, then ask them to elaborate on it later during an interview.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Broad generalizations aside, the states with the highest percentage of people who claim Scots-Irish roots tend towards more leniant gun laws.