Direct self-report data, not proxies, best reveal indiscriminate negative attitudes toward a group.

Evidence

The best ones are direct survey, focus-group, or interview data. The ideal measures involve carefully tailored questions through which respondents accurately reveal the extent of their indiscriminate negative attitudes or emotions directed at Islam or Muslims. — Erik Bleich, Defining and Researching Islamophobia, 48

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes standard measurement debates in racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism scholarship on direct versus indirect attitude indicators.