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Brands have popularly used rating scales to collect customer feedback on product or service reviews. Rating scale questions are so easy to recognize and understand that sometimes respondents don’t even need to read the question. We see smiley ratings or star ratings and immediately know what to do.
In this blog, we’ll discuss in detail the different types of rating scales and how you can use them in your surveys to collect customer feedback.
Rating scales are among the most common survey question types used for online and offline surveys. They are close-ended questions with a set of categories as options for respondents. Rating scales help gather information on qualitative and quantitative attributes.
The most common examples of rating scales are 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 gather 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 a product’s performance, employee satisfaction or skill, customer service performance, etc.
Rating scales can be classified into two categories: ordinal scale and interval scale. Some data are measured at the ordinal level and some at the interval level.
An ordinal scale gathers data by putting them in a rank without a degree of difference.
An interval scale measures data with an 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.
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.
We have explained these six rating scale types in detail to help you determine the right time to use the right question.
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.
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.”
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.
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, a Likert scale is a good tool for evaluating employee satisfaction with company policies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prevent combining multiple concepts in a single question. This will confuse the respondents and muddle your result.
We have discussed the factors that contribute to the popularity of this question type, among others.
Let’s also see the disadvantages of using this scale in surveys.
The rating 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.
Here are a few instances where you can use rating scale questions in your survey:
For example, you can use it in market research surveys to collect the following data:
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.
For instance, in healthcare research, you can use a rating scale to measure how frequently your patients partake in exercise or certain health behaviors.
For example, you can use it to understand your target market’s preference and level of importance for a product available in the market.
Before we conclude our blog, let’s look at some rating question examples you can use in your survey questionnaires:
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.
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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