2 | Manual for Risk Taking Questionnaire

MANUAL
FOR

RISK TAKING QU ESTIONNAIRE

NTRODUCTION The 20th century is the age of competition, in which human being is busy to keep himself in a leading position. This competitive spirit bounds him to opt the risk. lt is evident now that a risk-taker is more successful and leading position holder in the society. 'Risk' as layman understands, may be an act where an individual undertakes to earn his livelihood. Generally, the term 'risk' means a dangerous element or factor, where an individual is put in willingly/unwillingly in that situation. Hobrin (1974) is of the opinion that 'risk' is a condition where there is a possibility of occurance of loss as a result of deviation from the intended or expected situation. Kogan & Wallach (1967) described the risk-taking behaviour on the basis of kind situations in which it is likely to be elicited. They stated that behavior reflective of risk-taking disposition occurs in situations where there is a desirable goal & lack of certainity that can be attained. Wallach & Kogan (1964), in their book, 'RiskTaking : A Study on Cognition & Personality" concluded that the risk element is based on Subject's assessment of his own tolerance and is clearly explicit whether the decisions occur in a hypothetical success-failure context or in a situation involving gain-loss consequences. Bem & others (1962) also meant the term'risk'to the extent at which the decision maker is willing to expose himself to possible failure in the pursuit of a desirable
goal.

Chaubey (1974) believed that 'risk' is a condition where both the aspects of a thing are clearer to individual and the outcome clearly defines the success and failure. Knight & Shackle (1971) in the'lnsurance Theory' explored a distinction between'measurable' & 'non measurable risk'. According to them the 'measurable risk' is that situation which can be fairly and accurately estimated, as it can be predicted on the basis of past experiences. The 'Non Measurable Risk', on the other hand can not be predicted with any degree or
accuracy. Many studies hive been conducted in the west to correlate the 'risk'with a number of personality and social variables. A lot of tests were also constructed to measure the particular aspect of personality ie,'risk-taking attitude'. But allthese tests were according to the norms and values of Foreign testees. ln lndia, Chaubey (197a); and Yousuf (1974) constructed the Risk-Taking Questionnaire (more or less Hindi Versions of Kogan & Wallach's "Opinion Questionnaiie") based on the norms of Eastern U.P and Mysore Population respectively. This has led the authours to construct a Questionnaire to measure the 'risk-taking tendency' of lndian people in 1981 which was revised in 1982. DESCRIPTION

This questionnaire has been designed to measure the extent of 'risk' taken by a
particular individual in his personal as well as in his social life. lt is usuable on Male Literates

(14-50 years old) of Urban & Rural Population of Western Hills & Tarai areas of Uttar Pradesh. This tool is capable of assessing the magnitude of 'risk' in different areas of life. Areas of Risk in RTQ Eight areas of risk are included in the test, which are considered to be the most
important and affiliated areas of 'risK for lndian life by a number of Sociologists, Psychiatrists and PsychologistS. These specialists were requested to give a list of areas of risk in order of priority. Then a number of literate males (about 100) of age group 14 to 50 years of urban/rural population of Distt. Pithoragarh and Rampur, were requested to submit their