Learning patterns/Using ordered response scales

Survey questions often ask for ordered responses. These are questions that have responses like: strongly agree/strongly disagree, or Very important/Not important. These can be hard to think up when you are doing a survey.

Researchers have done a lot of research on this topic and there are responses that are often accepted as established. View the list below to find responses that work for you! Note: If the words do not translate well from English into another language, use number scales instead of words. See this learning pattern. --learning pattern needed-- for more information.

NOTE: Dichotomous pairs are not recommended for most survey questions. These options should only be used for filtering people to the right questions (e.g. did you attend the event? Yes/No), or for voting. You should often include "not sure/don't know" or "not applicable" as an option as well for these lists."

The following words can bias scale if not careful to balance depending on number of responses:

• Slightly vs. Somewhat
• Very/Extremely
• Completely/Totally
• Excellent vs. Exceptional

Translating these scales into another language can be very challenging. There are always slight differences in the meanings of words based on the language and culture. If a survey is being translated or used in multiple countries, it is best to use a number scale and show the extremes only. For example:

• 0 - Very poor
• 1
• 2 - Average
• 3
• 4 - Excellent

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