<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Although ordinal rating scales have received much research attention in survey methodology literature, the direction of the rating scales has not been as extensively studied as other design features. Research on scale direction effect has mainly focused on the influence on response distribution, while largely overlooking its impact on latent constructs. This study examines the scale direction effect on extreme and acquiescent response style latent class variables in an experiment embedded in a national probability sample. We found a higher level of acquiescent response style from scales starting with positive adjective words using a web survey. No significant effect of scale direction was detected on extreme response style or in a face-to-face survey (with show cards). This study also demonstrates that scale direction does not affect the substance latent class variables, once the response style latent class variables are included in the model. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.</p></abstract>

Although ordinal rating scales have received much research attention in survey methodology literature, the direction of the rating scales has not been as extensively studied as other design features. Research on scale direction effect has mainly focused on the influence on response distribution, while largely overlooking its impact on latent constructs. This study examines the scale direction effect on extreme and acquiescent response style latent class variables in an experiment embedded in a national probability sample. We found a higher level of acquiescent response style from scales starting with positive adjective words using a web survey. No significant effect of scale direction was detected on extreme response style or in a face-to-face survey (with show cards). This study also demonstrates that scale direction does not affect the substance latent class variables, once the response style latent class variables are included in the model. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.

Effects of Scale Direction on Response Style of Ordinal Rating Scales

SurveyMonkey, 101 Lytton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301,

Journal of Official Statistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Effects of Scale Direction on Response Style of Ordinal Rating Scales"}

Although ordinal rating scales have received much research attention in survey methodology literature, the direction of the rating scales has not been as...

Effects of Scale Direction on Response Style of Ordinal Rating Scales

Published Online: Feb 21, 2017

Page range: 137 - 154

Received: Jun 01, 2015

Accepted: Aug 01, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2017-0008

Keywords
Rating scale, scale direction, response style, latent class analysis, data collection mode

© by Mingnan Liu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Effects of Scale Direction on Response Style of Ordinal Rating Scales

Published Online: Feb 21, 2017

Page range: 137 - 154

Received: Jun 01, 2015

Accepted: Aug 01, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2017-0008

KeywordsRating scale, scale direction, response style, latent class analysis, data collection mode

© by Mingnan Liu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Rating scale, scale direction, response style, latent class analysis, data collection mode