In earlier articles, we investigated the effects of manipulating item formats on rating behaviors—specifically, we compared sliders to traditional five-point and eleven-point radio button numeric scales. For those analyses, we collected data from 212 respondents (U.S. panel agency, late January 2021) who used radio buttons and sliders to rate online shopping websites (e.g., Amazon) and
Adding more points to a scale can increase its reliability and sensitivity. But more points also take up additional screen real-estate space. Imagine twenty or a hundred points displayed on desktop or, even worse, on mobile. One recent digital alternative, allowing for nuanced ratings using the same screen real-estate as a traditional scale, is the
When it comes to collecting numeric ratings in online surveys, there is a definite allure to using sliders rather than the more common numeric scales with radio buttons. It just seems like you should get higher-quality measurements with sliders. Sliders give respondents many more response options, and they appear more engaging than multipoint scales. The
Five-star reviews. Whether you’re rating a product on Amazon, a dining experience on Yelp, or a mobile app in the App or Play Store, you can see that the five-star rating system is quite ubiquitous. Does the familiarity of stars offer a better rating system than traditional numbered scales? We recently reported a comparison between standard
