Research Tips

Wording Questions for Use in Scales

Often in written or phone surveys, people are asked to rate their agreement with a series of questions using scales anchored by strong disagreement and strong agreement. When creating questions for use in situations like this, it’s a good idea to phrase some negatively (e.g. “I won’t do business with this firm again”) and others positively (e.g. “I am very satisfied with my purchase”). Doing so helps to ensure that respondents will carefully read each question rather than just providing similar responses to each question. Note: If there is a mix of positively- and negatively-worded questions, it’s important to remember to re-code them for many types of analysis.