\u201cThe odd numbers allow for a midpoint.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nSummary and Takeaways<\/h1>\n
Our analysis comparing the impact of removing the neutral point from four standardized items (SEQ, UX-Lite\u2019s Ease and Useful items, LTR) using 200 participants indicated:<\/p>\n
Top-box scores were slightly (3%) higher with no neutral point.<\/strong> Top-box scores for even-numbered (no neutral point) items were consistently higher than the odd-numbered (neutral point) format items, especially in the between-subjects analyses. This suggests that the ratings that otherwise would have gone to the middle (neutral) option tended to be higher when the neutral point is removed. This trend was more attenuated with means which, by their nature, tend to be more stable than percentages of extreme responses. Our best estimate from this and the previous study is a slightly higher mean (1.5%) for the alternate (even) format.<\/p>\nMost differences in response patterns for means or top-box scores were not significant.<\/strong> We found little evidence for systematic differences in response means or top-box scores based on varying the number of points from odd to even for most comparisons of standard versus alternate formats. Across 32 within- and between-subjects comparisons of formats by task difficulty (Figures 5 and 6), only two were statistically significant. One of the significant differences was between LTR means when the task was easy (between-subjects), and the other difference was between Ease top-box scores when the task was easy (also between-subjects). When p<\/em> is set to .05, however, you expect one or two false positives across 32 tests, where there is really no difference.<\/p>\nIt isn\u2019t clear whether the significant differences in LTR and Ease are interpretable or anomalous.<\/strong> One way to interpret significant differences in this type of experiment is to look for patterns. The commonalities in these two outcomes are they were between-subjects with higher scores for the alternative (even) format when the task was easy. The key differences between the items are that Ease is a bipolar attitudinal scale (endpoint anchored with \u201cStrongly Disagree\u201d and \u201cStrongly Agree\u201d) while LTR is a unipolar behavioral intention scale (endpoint anchored with \u201cNot at All Likely\u201d to \u201cExtremely Likely\u201d). The Ease finding is hard to interpret because neither of the other two bipolar attitudinal items (SEQ and Useful) showed this pattern, especially given that the SEQ is another way to measure perceived ease. We suspect that the LTR patterns in top-box scores and means could be influenced by its unipolarity where the middle value doesn\u2019t necessarily act like a neutral value. We will watch for this potential effect in future research.<\/p>\nOver 90% of respondents didn\u2019t notice the change in rating scales.<\/strong> Not only were response behaviors generally similar with the two item formats, but over 90% of respondents also reported not noticing any difference in formats. Of the nine respondents who did notice the change in item format, two had no preference, three preferred the alternate (even) version, and four preferred the standard (odd) version.<\/p>\nKey finding.<\/strong> We found some evidence suggesting that the absence of a middle option in rating scales tends to increase the magnitude of ratings by a small amount. Our best estimate is that this effect size for means is about 1.5% of the range of the scales, and for top-box scores, the effect size is about 3%.<\/p>\nKey recommendation.<\/strong> Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, we recommend using the standard versions of well-known items like UX-Lite, SEQ, and LTR that use five, seven,\u00a0 and eleven points respectively, for easier comparison across studies, especially since the presence of a middle option (for a neutral attitude) is reasonable and customary in most UX research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many topics about the design of rating scales can provoke strong opinions and heated debates. The arguments include whether or not scales should include a neutral response. 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