Science educators often characterize the degree to which tests measure different facets of college
students’ learning, such as knowing, applying, and problem solving. A casual survey of scholarship
of teaching and learning research studies reveals that many educators also measure how students’
attitudes influence their learning. Students’ science attitudes refer to their positive or negative feelings
and predispositions to learn science. Science educators use attitude measures, in conjunction
with learning measures, to inform the conclusions they draw about the efficacy of their instructional
interventions. The measurement of students’ attitudes poses similar but distinct challenges as compared
with measurement of learning, such as determining validity and reliability of instruments and
selecting appropriate methods for conducting statistical analyses. In this review, we will describe
techniques commonly used to quantify students’ attitudes toward science. We will also discuss best
practices for the analysis and interpretation of attitude data.