Instruments

All these tools and scales are available without charge from me at rgifford@uvic.ca, assuming proper credit is given in any use or published work, report, thesis, dissertation, private use, etc. All are copyright © Robert Gifford and/or the University of Victoria.

 
FISH 3.1
A computer microworld (PC or Mac) for studying resource management decisions, using ocean fishing as a metaphor. It allows the researcher or instructor to vary many parameters, such as cost of the fish, their availability, the harvest rate, replenishment rate, operating costs, value of each fish, uncertainty that fish exist, etc. One fisher can interact with one computer, or networked groups of fishers can all fish in the same virtual ocean. See its own webpage, at http://web.uvic.ca/~rgifford/fish. Its full description is also published here:

• Gifford, J., & Gifford, R. (2000). FISH 3: A microworld for studying social dilemmas and resource management. Behavior Research Methods, Instrumentation, and Computers, 32, 417- 422.

 
SKANS 5.2 - Seated Kinesic Activity Notation System
An objective system for scoring nonverbal behavior during seated conversations, hence the name Seated Kinesic Activity Notation System. Used in studies of nonverbal behavior studies in relation to personality, intelligence, or any other construct of interest. One of my studies that used it is:

• Gifford, R. (1994). A lens-mapping framework for understanding the encoding and decoding of interpersonal dispositions in nonverbal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 398-412.

 
EAI - Environmental Appraisal Inventory
The Environmental Appraisal Inventory is a measure of personal control in the face of hazards and disasters. 24 such threats are listed, and respondents judge the degree to which each hazard is (a) threatening to themselves (b) threatening to the environment, and (c) controllable by themselves, should it become salient. See:

• Schmidt, F. N., & Gifford, R. (1989). A dispositional approach to hazard perception: The environmental appraisal inventory. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 9, 57-67.

 
EOS - Environmental Optimism Scale
The Environmental Optimism Scale assesses the pessimism or optimism of individuals (a) at present and (b) in 25 years, at three scales (i) locally, (ii) nationally, and (iii) globally for each of 20 items (e.g., soil, water, air, noise, etc.). 22-nation study in progress, June 2006.

 
SPICE - Survey of Personal Influence in Common Environments
The Survey of Personal Influence in Common Environments measures a person's perceived control and the importance to the person of having control in three main physical domains: at home, at work or school, and in public. Within each domain, the person's sense of control over the physical environment (note: not the social, interpersonal or policy environment) is assessed with 198 items in 32 separate scales. Any subset of the scales may be used in a study that focuses more narrowly.

 
PSS - Personal Surroundings Survey
The Personal Surroundings Survey was designed as a short, omnibus measure of self-reported environmental sensitivity. Its 22 items cover sensitivity to sound, light, visual pollution, crowding, odor, etc.

 
FWS - Free Will Survey
The Free Will Survey is a short instrument (14 items) designed to measure belief in free will (versus determinism).

 
SSS - Social Situations Scenarios
The Social Situations Scenarios is a set of 18 brief descriptions of common dyadic social situations, in which three factors are systematically varied: the respondent likes the other person, is neutral, or does not like the other person, the person is higher, equal, or lower status than the other person, and the two are engaged in a cooperative or competitive activity. It was used in:

• Gifford, R. (1982). Projected interpersonal distance and orientation choices: Personality, sex, and social situation. Social Psychology Quarterly, 45, 145-152.

 
AFC - Architectural Features Checklist
The Architectural Features Checklist is a measure of the objective physical features of large urban building exteriors, using 59 items. Its mandate is to describe building exteriors using strictly objective measures, such as number of storeys, color, percent fenestration, etc. It was used, for example, in:

• Gifford, R., Hine, D. W., Muller-Clemm, W., & Shaw, K. T. (2000). Decoding modern architecture: A lens-model approach for understanding the aesthetic differences of architects and laypersons. Environment and Behavior, 32, 163-187.

 
SET - Social Evaluation Theory scales
To measure a person's views about the role of others as potential need satisfiers, a series of eight short (5-6 items) scales were developed. It is the core set of constructs in social evaluation theory, my current main interest in social psychology.

 
EAS - Environmental Action Scale
The Environmental Action Scale is a 16-item instrument that measures support for extreme or radical actions in support of the environment. Currently under development.

 
OHC - Objective Housing Checklist
The Objective Housing Checklist originated with a shorter scale developed by Gary Evans at Cornell University, but was greatly expanded into a 245-item checklist that measures the quality of living environments and the immediate neighborhood. Its published use was in:

• Gifford, R., & Lacombe, C. (in press). Children's socioemotional health and housing quality. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment.

 
PCE - Perceived Control in Employment
The Perceived Control in Employment scale was developed to measure an unemployed person's perceived control in finding work. It was developed in the course of a study of displaced forest workers, but it is sufficiently general to use in any occupational field.