Measuring Justice and Fairness

This chapter reviews the measurement approaches used in the justice literature. We begin by describing fundamental issues involved in constructing measures, such as item content, focus, context, and experience bracketing. We then introduce a 2 x 2 taxonomy wherein measurement approaches are distinguished by (a) whether they emphasize more descriptive perceptions of justice rule adherence or more evaluative perceptions of fairness, and (b) whether they distinguish among particular justice dimensions. The chapter concludes by reviewing a number of emerging measurement issues, including anticipations and expectations, within-person methodologies, the use of multiple sources, and the explicit operationalization of injustice.