There are a lot of ways to display multipoint rating scales by varying the number of points (e.g., 5, 7, 11) and by labeling or not labeling those points. There’s variety not only in how rating scales are displayed but also in how you score the responses. Two typical scoring methods we discussed earlier are reporting
There is plenty of debate about the best way to quantify attitudes and experiences with rating scales. And among those debates, perhaps the most popular question is the “right” number of response options to use for rating scales. For example, is an eleven-point scale too difficult for people to understand? Is a three-point scale insufficient
There’s a lot of conventional wisdom floating around the Internet about rating scales. What you should and shouldn’t do. Best practices for points, labels, and formats. It can be hard to differentiate between science-backed conclusions and just practitioner preferences. In this article, we’ll answer some of the more common questions that come up about rating
One of these things is not like the other. That’s the theme of a segment on the long-running US TV show Sesame Street. As children, we learn to identify similarities and differences. And after seeing a group of things that look similar, we tend to remember the differences. Why? Well, one theory describes something called
To have a reliable and valid response scale, people need to understand what they’re responding to. A poorly worded question, an unclear response item, or an inadequate response scale can create additional error in measurement. Worse yet, the error may be systematic rather than random, so it would result in unmodeled bias rather than just
Question wording in a survey can impact responses. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Ask a different question and you’ll get a different answer. But just how different the response ends up being depends on how a question has changed. Subtle differences can have big impacts; alternatively, large differences can have little impact. It’s
Survey response options come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and now, colors. The number of points, the addition of labels, the use of numbers, and the use of positive or negative tone are all factors that can be manipulated. These changes can also affect responses, sometimes modestly, sometimes a lot. There is some concern
In an earlier article, we examined the folk wisdom that three-point scales were superior to those with more, such as five, seven, ten, or eleven response options. Across twelve published studies we found little to suggest that three-point scales were better than scales with more points and, in fact, found evidence to show that they
Five-point scales are the best. No, seven points. Never use a ten-point scale. Eleven points “pretend noise is science.” You never need more than three points. Few things seem to elicit more opinions (and misinformation) in measurement than the “right” number of scale points to use in a rating scale response option. For example, here
It seems like each year introduces a new measure or questionnaire. Like a late-night infomercial, some are even touted as the next BIG thing, like the NPS was. New questionnaires and measures are a natural part of the evolution of measurement (especially measuring difficult things such as human attitudes). It’s a good thing. I’ll often
