Rating & Ranking Scales
Introduction
● When it comes to survey, things entirely depends on how you ask each question since
it directly affects the quality of data both positively and negatively.
● For instance: it is important for a company to produce a product which will be
accepted and loved by the consumers for that the company need to produce surveys
that generate significant & useful results.
● Here comes the Rating & Ranking Scales for the purpose of data collection.
Rating Scale
Rating scale is defined as a closed-ended survey question used to represent respondent
feedback in a comparative form for specific particular features/products/services. It is one
of the most established question types for online and offline surveys where survey
respondents are expected to rate an attribute or feature.
A Rating scale question is one that seeks respondent feedback in a comparative form for
specific features, products or service – “on a scale of 1 to 7 where one means ‘not at all
likely’ and seven means ‘extremely likely,’ how likely are you to purchase the product in
the next 3 months?"
Cont...
● Say, for example, you want to determine how your customers feel about your new
soda branding. Using a rating scale question, you can show them a photo of the newly
branded soda bottle and ask how likely they are to choose your item: very likely,
neutral, or not at all likely.
● Researchers use a rating scale in research when they intend to associate a qualitative
measure with the various aspects of a product or feature.
● Generally, this scale is used to evaluate the performance of a product or service,
employee skills, customer service performances, processes followed for a particular
goal etc.
● The Likert scale is one of the most often used rating scales and one you probably
recognize. In this method, members are asked to agree or disagree with a statement.
Types of Rating Scale
Broadly speaking, rating scales can be divided into two categories: Ordinal and Interval
Scales.
● An ordinal scale is a scale the depicts the answer options in an ordered manner.
● An interval scale is a scale where not only is the order of the answer variables
established but the magnitude of difference between each answer variable is also
calculable.
Cont...
There are four primary types of rating scales which can be suitably used in an online
survey:
➔ Graphic Rating Scale
➔ Numerical Rating Scale
➔ Descriptive Rating Scale
➔ Comparative Rating Scale
Cont...
Graphic Rating Scale: Graphic rating scale indicates the answer options on a scale of 1-3,
1-5, etc. Likert Scale is a popular graphic rating scale example. Respondents can select a
particular option on a line or scale to depict rating. This rating scale is often implemented
by HR managers to conduct employee evaluation.
Cont...
Numerical Rating Scale: Numerical rating scale has numbers as answer options and not
each number corresponds to a characteristic or meaning. For instance, a Semantic
Differential Scale can be presented using a numerical rating scale.
Cont...
Descriptive Rating Scale: In a descriptive rating scale, each answer option is elaborately
explained for the respondents. A numerical value is not always related to the answer
options in the descriptive rating scale. There are certain surveys, for example, a customer
satisfaction survey, which needs to describe all the answer options in detail so that every
customer has thoroughly explained information about what is expected from the survey.
Comparative Rating Scale: Comparative rating scale, as the name suggests, expects
respondents to answer a particular question in terms of comparison, i.e. on the basis of
relative measurement or keeping other organizations/products/features as a reference.
Ranking Scale
● Ranking scales offer a different approach to gathering data—these questions ask
respondents to compare items to one another, rather than rating them on a common
scale.
● For Instance - When trying to negotiate which items to remove from your dessert
menu, you might ask customers to rank the seven desserts you offer from their most
favorite to least favorite, giving you insight into customer preferences.
● A rating scale question allows you to measure strength of response. A ranking scale
question allows you to measure priority of options. Using the two in tandem can give
you very powerful insights into consumer preferences.
● A rating scale question allows you to measure strength of response. A ranking scale
question allows you to measure priority of options.
