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The Art of Leveraging Rating Scales

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Rating Scale Metadata management
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Rating scales have been popularly used by brands to collect customer feedback on product or service reviews. These questions are easy to recognize and understand that sometimes respondents don’t even need to read the question. We see smiley ratings or star ratings and know what we have to do. 

In this blog, we’ll discuss in detail the different types and how you can use them in your surveys to collect customer feedback.

What is a Rating Scale?

This type of scale is one of the popularly used question types for online as well as offline surveys. It is a close-ended question along with a set of categories as options for respondents. It helps gain information on the qualitative and quantitative attributes.

The most common example is the Likert scale, star rating, and slider. For example, when you visit an online shopping site, you see a rating scale question when it asks you to rate your shopping experience. 

It is a popular choice for conducting market research. It can serve the purpose of gathering more relative information about a product or certain aspects of the product. The scale is commonly used to gain quantifiable feedback. It can be used to gain insight into the performance of a product, employee satisfaction or skill, customer service performance, etc.

Rating Scale Metadata management

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What are the two categories of rating scale data?

It is divided into two categories: ordinal scale and interval scale. Some data are measured at the ordinal level, and some at the interval level.

👉Ordinal Scale: An ordinal scale gathers data by putting them in a rank without a degree of difference.

👉Interval Scale:  An interval scale measures data with equal distance between two adjacent attributes.

Robust online survey tools should allow you to create interactive surveys with rating questions to keep the respondents engaged. 

Now that we have learned what it is and the two categories of the collected data, let’s look into the different types. 

What are the types of rating scales?

You can use this type of scale in your survey in six different ways. These six scales gather data based on the categories mentioned above. 

  1. Numeric scale. 
  2. Verbal scale. 
  3. Slider scale. 
  4. Likert scale.
  5. Graphic scale. 
  6. Descriptive scale. 

We have explained these six rating scale types in detail to help you determine the right time to use the right question.

1. Numeric rating scale or NRS

  • A numeric rating scale uses numbers to identify the items in the scale. In this scale, not all numbers need an attribute attached to them.
  • For instance, you can ask your survey respondents to rate a product from 1 to 5 on a scale. You can assign 1 as totally dissatisfied and 5 as totally satisfied.

2. Verbal rating scale or VRS:

  • Verbal scales are used for pain assessment. Also known as verbal pain scores and verbal descriptor scale compiles a number of statements describing pain intensity and duration.
  • For instance, when you go to a dentist, you are asked to rate the intensity of your tooth pain. At that time, you receive a scale with items like “none,” “mild,” “moderate,” “severe,” and “very severe.”

3. Visual analog scale or Slider scale:

  • The idea behind VAS is to let the audience select any value from the scale between two endpoints. In the scale, only the endpoints have attributes allotted to numbers, and the rest of the scale is empty. 
  • Often just called a slider scale, the audience can rate whatever they want without being restricted to particular characteristics or rank.
  • For example, a scale rating ranges from extremely easy to extremely difficult, with no other value allotted.

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Rating Scale Metadata management

4. Likert scale:

  • A Likert scale is a useful tool for effective market research to receive feedback on a wide range of psychometric attributes. The agree-disagree scale is particularly useful when your intention is to gather information on frequency, experience, quality, likelihood, etc.
  • For example, to evaluate employee satisfaction with company policies, a Likert scale is a good tool to use.

5. Graphic rating scale:

  • Instead of numbers imagine using pictures, such as stars or smiley faces to ask your customers and audience to rate. 
  • The stars and smiley faces can generate the same value as a number.

6. Descriptive scale:

  • In certain surveys or research, a numeric scale may not help much. A descriptive scale explains each option for the respondent. 
  • It contains a thorough explanation for the purpose of gathering information with deep insights.

These are the six types of rating questions that you can use in your surveys to make it an engaging and fun experience for the survey takers.

How to create a rating scale survey?

While rating scale questions are simple to create and easy to understand, there are certain factors you need to be mindful of to ensure it doesn’t confuse the respondents. Let’s look at some tips to learn how you can create a rating survey. 

1. Determine the scale – 

The first step is identifying the right scale for your survey question and its scale points/response options. The scale should reflect the purpose of the research, and the scale points should resonate with the idea of the selected scale. 

The aim is to ensure that the respondents can interpret the meaning and purpose of your rating questions easily and accurately. 

2. Implement the right scale – 

The six rating scale types should help you understand which rating scale you should use in your survey. 

If you can’t determine which scale best fits the research, then consider running a test with the rating questions you wish to use. Evaluate the result to see which scale helps you collect the intended data. 

3. Use a consistent rating scale – 

Maintain consistency in your survey by using the same order/value in scale points. The best way to do this is by assigning the lowest end of the scale as 1 and the highest end as 5. This order is easy to follow as it shows that the more you move to the right, the bigger the numbers. 

This not only helps your survey respondents but also allows for easier analysis. 

4. Balance positive and negative options – 

A balanced scale helps minimize response bias and non-response bias. This ensures that the respondent has the option to simply opt for the middle value and not show any priority. In contrast, for others, the security of the middle value influences them to provide honest opinions. 

5. Let one question focus on one idea – 

Prevent combining multiple concepts in a single question. This will confuse the respondents and muddle your result.

What are the advantages of using rating scales in surveys?

We have discussed the factors that contribute to the popularity of this question type, among others. 

  • It is a simple and easy-to-understand question type for both the researcher and the audience. 
  • It doesn’t take too much of the respondents’ time. 
  • There are various types of scales to help you create an engaging survey. 
  • In terms of marketing surveys, this scale is a valuable tool for data analysis. It can gain product review for evaluation and a further improvement in marketing strategy.

What are the disadvantages of rating scales?

Let’s also see the disadvantages of using this scale in surveys. 

  • It does not help collect the reason behind a customer review. 
  • It gets access to the overall experience but not the reason behind the audience’s perception.
  • In the case of VRS, the scale may oftentimes overestimate the patient’s pain experience. In addition, patients with limited vocabulary may not understand the statements in a verbal descriptor scale.

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Rating Scale Metadata management

When to use the rating scale in your survey questionnaire?

The scale allows you to gather a large volume of quantifiable responses. The data you gather can help you identify patterns in feedback and determine what needs priority. 

→ You can use it to gather information on a particular topic. For example, you can use it in market research surveys to collect the following data:

  • Customer review about an app they are using.
  • Customer satisfaction with the delivery service of a courier company.
  • Likelihood of recommending a café to a friend.
  • Rate a list of brands from least to most favorite.

→ You can use it to gather information about a service or product from the target audience for the purpose of comparison and analysis.

  • For instance, if you are planning to start a business, this type of scale will provide you with awareness of the current market demand. With the information gained, you can strategize your scheme.

→ You can measure the frequency to assess how often a survey respondent engages in certain behavior. 

  • For instance, in healthcare research, you can use a rating scale to measure how frequently your patients partake in exercise or certain health behaviors. 

→ You can identify the importance and priority respondents assign to certain products. 

  • For example, you can use it to understand your target market’s preference and level of importance for a product available in the market.

Examples of rating scale survey questions

Before we conclude our blog, let’s look at some rating question examples you can use for your research purpose. 

  1. Customer satisfaction –
    • How satisfied are you with the newly launched live customer support chat service on our app?
    • How likely are you to refer our podcast app to others?
  1. Product feedback – 
    • Rate the quality of our latest product. (1- poor and 5 – excellent) 
    • How easy was it to use the new doc scanner app? 
  1. Event experience – 
    • How would you rate the organization of our music festival event? (1-poorly organized, 5- extremely well organized) 
    • How likely are you to attend our summer event in the future?

Wrapping up;

This sums up all you need to know about rating scales. However, here are some tips to ensure that your scale questions are easy to understand for the audience. 

  1. Assign clear and precise labels to the endpoints of your scale. 
  2. Avoid response bias by including both endpoints in your question ( satisfied/dissatisfied, easy/not easy, likely/not likely, etc.).
  3. It’s better to make 1 the negative and the other end 5 or 10 as the positive point. 
  4. Use odd scales to offer a neutral point for the audience. 

Various rating scale question types are available in Voxco’s market research software, each serving a different purpose. Hence, before selecting a scale, it is important to figure out the purpose of the survey and the kind of information you wish to gain.

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