Aug
08
Posted by nnlmneo on August 8th, 2012
Posted in: Blog
In survey design workshops, we are often asked if rating scales designed to measure respondents’ opinions and attitudes should have an odd number of points, including a neutral mid-point (i.e., “Neither agree or disagree”); or if it’s better to have an even number of points, without a mid-point. Our answer, which probably frustrates our participants to no end, is “it depends.” You have to clearly think through what a “neutral” answer means and choose accordingly. Here is a link to a clever blog entry by Jane Davidson that makes this point very well and gives you ways to think about how many points your rating scales should have:
Boxers or briefs? Why having a favorite response scale makes no sense
(There are some insightful readers’ comments to this blog post that you might find interesting as well.)