casro 2013: battle of the scales
DESCRIPTION
Examination of 4,5,7,and 10 point scales in terms of extreme responding, acquiescent responding, and midpoint responding as well as a comparison of labelled and unlabeled pointsTRANSCRIPT
Examining Respondent Scale Usage across 10 countries
By Melanie Courtright, Kartik Pashupati,
and Annie Pettit
Battle of the Scales
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Background
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Battle of the Scales
Background
Scales are a cornerstone of market research
They’re how we determine that:
• 49% of people like Coca-Cola and 42% of people like Pepsi
• How citizens feel about the government
• Men like watching sports more than women do
• Canadians like Shania Twain more than Brits… or do they??
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Battle of the Scales
Background
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Battle of the Scales
So Many Client Questions…
Is there a difference in the reliability of attitudinal scales when using 4-point, 5-point, 7-point, and 10-point scales?
Does excluding a neutral point impact the answers?
Does labeling each point vs. only the end points produce different results?
Can we replicate and extend the results of previous research on the impact of cultural factors on response styles?
Do scales with greater variance (e.g., 7-point and 10-point scales) reduce Extreme Response Style (ERS) compared to lesser variance (e.g., 4-point and 5-point scales)?
Conversely, do scales with greater variance (e.g., 7-point and 10-point scales) produce a greater incidence of Medium Response Style (MRS) compared to lesser variance (e.g., 4-point and 5-point scales)?
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Battle of the Scales
Research Plan
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Battle of the Scales
Research Plan
7-minute attitudinal survey
Globally relevant topics
Mix of positive and negative wording
Scales with published measures of reliability
Include behavioral statements that should correlate to attitudinal questions
Simultaneously field across ten countries
Age and gender quota sampling by country
Same sample source throughout
Research Now’s proprietary Valued Opinions Panel (VOP)
First study to
Simultaneously compare the effect of multiple response options (4-, 5-, 7- and 10-point scales)
Using a large, census-balanced, multi-country sample
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Battle of the Scales
Research Plan
Sample
Sizes
4 point
5 point LABELED
5 point UNLABELED
7 point
10 point
TOTAL
Brazil 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
China 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
France 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
Germany 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
India 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
Japan 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
Mexico 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
Russia 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
UK 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
US 500 250 250 500 500 2,000
TOTAL 5,000 2,500 2,500 5,000 5,000 19,886
Fieldwork conducted December 2012 and January 2013
All five scale options tested in each of ten countries
Note: For ease of reading, sample sizes have been rounded up or down by no more than 11.
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Battle of the Scales
Analysis Plan
Three indices:
Extreme Response Style Index (ERSI)
– Respondents who answered either extreme of scale were assigned a score of 1. Otherwise, they were assigned zero.
Acquiescence Response Style Index (ARSI)
– Respondents who strongly agreed with an item were assigned a score of 1. Otherwise, they were assigned zero.
Medium Response Style Index (MRSI)
– On scales with an odd number of options (i.e., 5 point, 7 point), respondents who answered exactly in the middle were assigned a medium response score of 1. Otherwise, they were assigned zero.
Possible summary values ranged from 0.0 to 1.
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Battle of the Scales
Use of Scale Results
Male Female
ERS .43 .43
ARS .32 .33
MRS .28 .28
Hypothesis 1: There will be no meaningful differences in ERS, MRS or ARS indices between male and female respondents.
Result 1 Confirmed: Men and women do not differ in their response patterns.
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Battle of the Scales
Use of Scale Results
Hypothesis 2: There will be significant but not systematic differences in ERS, ARS and MRS Indices across the different age groups.
Results 2 partially confirmed: There were significant differences but the differences were systematic. ERS and MRS gradually increased with age until 55-64, and then declined. The pattern for ARS (yea-saying) was reversed.
.41 .41.43 .43 .44 .44
.41 .41
.46
.31.32
.33 .33.32 .32
.30.29 .28
.27 .27 .28.28 .29 .29 .28
.29
.25
.20
.25
.30
.35
.40
.45
.50
15-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+
ERS (Extreme)
ARS (Acquiescent)
MRS (Medium)
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Battle of the Scales
Use of Scale Results
Hypothesis 3: There will be significant differences in ERS, ARS, and MRS across the different countries.
Results 3 confirmed: Respondents from Brazil and Mexico have the highest tendency to give extreme responses. Respondents from Japan have a significantly lower ERS Index, and significantly higher MRS (and ARS).
.53 .53.48
.45.41 .41 .40 .40
.37.31
.27 .26 .26 .27 .29 .28 .28 .29 .29
.33
.00
.10
.20
.30
.40
.50
.60
▌ERS (Extreme)
MRS (Acquiescent)
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Battle of the Scales
Use of Scale Results
Hypothesis 4: Individualism (Hofstede) will correlate positively with ERS and negatively with MRS. Individualism will equate to stronger, and therefore more extreme, opinions.
Results 4 not confirmed: Differences could not be attributed to individualism. Analysis actually showed a negative correlation with ERS.
.49
.41.39
.38
.31
.28.27
.29 .28
.20
.25
.30
.35
.40
.45
.50
.55
Low Medium HighIndividualism
ERS (Extreme)
ARS (Acquiescent)
MRS (Medium)
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Battle of the Scales
Use of Scale Results
Hypothesis 5: Respondents in countries that are higher in masculinity (Hofstede) would exhibit higher ERS.
Results 5 not confirmed: While masculinity did affect the differences, the results were not in the expected direction. Countries with lower masculinity demonstrated higher ERS indices.
.46
.41 .42
.34
.32.31
.28 .28.30
.25
.30
.35
.40
.45
.50
Low Medium High
Masculinity
ERS (Extreme)
ARS (Acquiescent)
MRS (Medium)
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Battle of the Scales
Use of Scale Results
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Battle of the Scales
Number of Scale Points Results
Hypothesis 6: The number of scale points and scale labeling will affect ERS, MRS, and ARS.
Results 6 confirmed: 7- and 10-point scales saw fewer medium responses. ERS, MRS, and ARS were all lower for the 5-point labeled scale versus the unlabeled scale.
.45
.41
.45
.42.41
.34.32
.33.32 .31
.33.31
.33
.27
.20
.15
.20
.25
.30
.35
.40
.45
.50
4 point 5 point labeled
5 point unlabeled
7 point 10 point
ERS (Extreme)
ARS (Acquiescent)
MRS (Medium)
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Battle of the Scales
Number of Scale Points Results
Hypothesis 7: The number of scale points and scale labeling will have an impact on scale reliability.
Results 7 Not confirmed: There is no significant variation in the reliability of scales by number nor labeling of scale points.
Scale
# of Total Items
# of ReverseItems
Cronbach's alpha
4 point
5 point labeled
5 point unlabel
ed7
point10
point
Health Environment Sensitivity 8 1 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
Personal Health Responsibility 8 2 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7
Motorcycle Helmet Mandate 2 1 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
Attitude toward helping others (AHO)
4 0 0.9 0.85 0.9 0.9 0.9
Material Values Scale (MVS 9) 9 2 0.8 0.75 0.8 0.8 0.8
Attitude toward Advertising in General (AAG)
7 4 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
Online privacy concern 2 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.55
Lie acceptability scale 8 4 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
Note: For ease of reading, alphas were rounded. See the paper for precise values.
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Battle of the Scales
Summary Findings
ERS, MRS, and ARS do not differ by gender, but do differ by age
Response styles vary by country– India, Mexico, Russia and Brazil are similar
– The US and UK are similar, as are France and Germany.
– Respondents from Japan are unique in terms of lower extreme and higher medium response styles
Reasons for country differences are not yet isolated– Need more research and
– Need scale norms that are available on a multi-country basis.
Varying the number of response options – Does affect MRS
– Does NOT impact scale reliability or ERS
Scale labeling did not impact scale reliability, but did impact ERS, MRS, and ARS
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Battle of the Scales
Closing Thoughts
READ THE PAPER!
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Battle of the Scales
Closing Thoughts
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Battle of the Scales
Closing Thoughts
What about mobile?
If number of options and labeling do impact results and screen space is a luxury on mobile devices…
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Battle of the Scales
Closing Thoughts
What about social media? HideousDisgustingAbhor
If number of options and labeling do impact results, what is the complementary impact on textual data…
HuhDunnoWhatevs
GoodNiceCool
AwesomeWickedBomb
CrapYuckDumb
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Battle of the Scales
More to Come!