We really like the Likert scale, which uses the agree format 'Strongly disagree' through to 'Strongly agree'.
But you may be running a different type of survey, where the usual agree format doesn't really work. We have some alternative scales that can be used, such as Importance or Satisfaction, which allow the questions to be worded in a more flexible way, rather than an 'ideal statement' that must be agreed/disagreed with.
All our scales use 5 points, but have different options displayed for each of the 5 choices.
Scale | Left-most | Left of center | Center | Right of center | Right-most |
Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Satisfaction | Very dissatisfied | Dissatisfied | Neither satisfied / dissatisfied | Satisfied | Very satisfied |
Quality | Very poor | Poor | Fair | Good | Very good |
Frequency (default) | Never | Rarely | Occasionally | Frequently | Very frequently |
Frequency (alternative) | Never | Rarely | Sometimes | Often | Always |
Performance | Awfully | Not well | Work in progress | Well | Superbly |
Importance | Not at all important | Slightly important | Moderately important | Very important | Extremely important |
Focus | Much less focus | Less focus | Maintain | More focus | Much more focus |
We recommend you stick with one scale for a survey, rather than mix them up too much. Survey respondents get used to what the scale means when they take the survey, and you want to keep it simple and clear, rather than have them having to re-evaluate each question based on the available options.
How to change the rating scale
To edit your scale, click on the question, then select the drop-down menu under Rating type:
Only the list displayed is possible to choose from. It's not possible to create a custom scale that is displayed as a rating question.
Effectiveness (180, 360) surveys
If you're using an Effectiveness 180 (Manager or Team Effectiveness) or 360 (Individual or Leadership Effectiveness) template, you can still update the rating scale format, though the steps are slightly different.
For these survey types, click Edit on the relevant rating question, then go to the Answer Details tab to find the option to change the scale, by using the Scale drop-down.
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