Very interesting discussion. However, I personally prefer uneven scales, because I think that users do know what 3 on a 5-Point scale means: not bad, but not good either. Why should I force them to either a positive or a negative decision?
On the other hand you should offer a "don't know" option as well, for those who just don't want or can't rate the item. We made and still do make good experiences with those ratings and benchmarking studies do show that respondents can easily cope with the "neutral" option. And if you think about it: sometimes there is just that odd item, that you don't consider positive nor negative. If there would be an even scale, you would be forced into a decision that you can't make. Whatever you answer, it is basically wrong. On a scale with many options this might be not so bad, but on a scale of 4, this can have a huge impact on results (mean, top-boxes, etc.). Some researchers are concerned that the respondents use the center of the scale too often, because it is "easier", but from my experience that isn't the case. Most respondents do have an opinion, and if it is good or bad, they will tell you. However, as a company you should know how you want to treat those neutral responses. I personally recommend to mentally move them towards the negative responses. Because even if the respondent doesn't consider the item negative, the companies intention should be to move all the responses towards the positive side of the scale over time by actions to improve quality, etc. @Paul: As my experience from research practice is quite opposite to what you were writing I would like to get some more background information about this. Do you have any scientific articles about this? Would be interesting, because this can also depend very much on the issues that should be rated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47342 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
