{"id":7340,"date":"2013-06-03T05:39:56","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T12:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/?p=7340"},"modified":"2013-06-03T05:39:56","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T12:39:56","slug":"5-and-7-point-measurement-scales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/5-and-7-point-measurement-scales\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Hate 5 and 7 Point Measurement Scales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One beginner online survey tip is to avoid using Yes\/No questions whenever possible. \u00a0Instead, you&#8217;re supposed to use 5 or 7 point Likert scales. \u00a0Well &#8211; to that I say &#8212; Pshah!<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-5439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/istock_000003504311xsmall.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"iStock_000003504311XSmall\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/p>\n<p>These rating scales all have a middle or &#8220;neutral&#8221; option. \u00a0I know &#8212; I know &#8212; they are supposed to have a neutral option. \u00a0But if you give people a neutral option &#8211; they will take it. \u00a0And when it comes down to it, giving people a neutral options allows THEM to bail on a very important decision &#8212; whether they like something or hate it. \u00a0Is it yes or is it no. \u00a0Don&#8217;t give me a maybe &#8212; that&#8217;s not good enough.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why choosing positive or negative is a good thing<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It forces the respondent to stop and think.<\/strong> \u00a0When you give people a neutral option, it gives them an out. \u00a0They don&#8217;t stop and think, they just choose neutral and move on. \u00a0Making them decide if it&#8217;s a good thing or a bad thing &#8212; makes them stop (even for a moment) and consider which side they are on.<\/li>\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s good or it&#8217;s bad.<\/strong> \u00a0Granted, you will still get an average score &#8212; but that score will either be positive or negative &#8212; no\u00a0weasel numbers. \u00a0That might be tough to swallow, but you will know where you stand with your customers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>It focuses you on where to put your resources.<\/strong> \u00a0If you&#8217;re not sure where to put your priorities, this dichotomous scale is a style that will help you decide exactly where to put your efforts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure many of you have some strong opinions about this topic and I&#8217;d love to hear them! \u00a0Put them in the comments below and let&#8217;s get a conversation started.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One beginner online survey tip is to avoid using Yes\/No questions whenever possible. \u00a0Instead, you&#8217;re supposed to use 5 or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[188,250,203],"tags":[284],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why I Hate 5 and 7 Point Measurement Scales | QuestionPro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One beginner online survey tip is to avoid using Yes\/No questions whenever possible. \u00a0Instead, you&#039;re supposed to use 5 or 7 point Likert scales. \u00a0Well -\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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