The Effect of the Number of Scale Points in Measuring Product Perceptions
Abstract:
Lists of characteristics are often used by researchers to assess consumers' perceptions of a product or concept. For example, respondents may be asked whether or to what extent they agree that the characteristics describe the product or concept, or how much they like various attributes of the product. Prior to data collection, the researcher must decide what type or form of scale should be used. Scales may vary not only in the intent (e.g. performance, satisfaction, description, agreement) and the semantic descriptions of the scale points, but also in the number of scale points. Two experiments were conducted focusing on the latter issue, with particular reference to agreement scales. This paper summarizes the results of these experiments. Specifically, the research issue addressed is whether the conclusions about product or concept differences are affected by the number of points used in an agree/disagree scale.
