Beyond Ratings Scales
Why forced choices reveal more customer insights than ratings
As a methodologist I am always coming across clients, colleagues and stakeholders who are obsessed with large question scales. If a 5-point scale is good, then a 7-point scale must be better and a 10 or 11-point scale must be the best! Right?
Sadly, this blind belief in false precision is just plain wrong, and anyone with experience can tell you why. This is just not how people use scale questions.
When asked for advice on how many points to have on a scale people are usually disappointed with my answer. One.
Yep, just one. Make people make a choice. Don’t believe me? Consider these two different ways to ask a healthcare attitude question. Which way will give the most insightful results?
First way:
- on a scale of one to ten, how important is compassionate healthcare to you?
- on a scale of one to ten, how important is it that a hospital has the best technology?
Second way:
- Is having the latest technology more important to you than compassionate healthcare? (Yes/No)
Let’s be clear: the first approach here is useless - why would anyone not answer 10 for both? The answers will just be some scale-use bias (probably a lot of 9s as people don’t like giving 10s).
The second approach forces a choice - and how people answer will tell you a lot about what they value.
You can read a thought-piece I wrote on this topic for MarTech Magazine called Why forced choices reveal more customer insights than ratings.