How to number rating scales

Choosing the right scale for your survey can feel like a minor detail, but the way you number your options actually dictates the quality of data you collect.

Whether you are measuring customer satisfaction or employee engagement, your rating scale can fundamentally shift how respondents perceive your questions. While it might seem straightforward, numbering isn’t just about counting; it involves understanding psychological biases and statistical clarity.

This guide will walk you through rating scales and how to number them for the most actionable results.

A survey rating scale is a response format to a closed-ended, multiple-choice question, allowing respondents to assign a numeric or qualitative value along a continuum to measure the strength or intensity of a feeling, behavior, or concept.

Once you’ve identified a specific construct of interest, the question becomes “How many scale points?” There’s an easy way to decide how to number a rating scale.

All constructs are either bipolar or unipolar, and the number of scale points we assign to a question depends on whether its hidden construct is bipolar or unipolar.

Bipolar constructs are those where attitudes can fall on one side or the other of a midpoint that itself is true ambivalence or neutrality.

For example: A school principal might want to know if parents think the school day is too long, too short, or just fine. Length, then, is a bipolar construct.

Unipolar constructs are those that lend themselves strictly to an amount–either there is the maximum amount of the attitude or none of it.

For instance: Let’s say I asked you to rate how helpful this article is. It may fall between being the most helpful article you’ve ever read and not helpful at all. 

Once you decide between unipolar and bipolar, you can narrow down the number of rating scale points you need.

Generally, 4-, 5-, and 7-point scales are effective, with 7-point rating scales allowing more granular data collection for detailed analysis.

“You don’t get much differential information past seven points,” said Senior SurveyMonkey Research Scientist Zoe Padgett.

Let’s return to the previous unipolar helpful example. 

We can safely assume there is something in between–like “sort of” helpful. So far, that’s three response options that we can easily wrap our minds around. After that, a response option in between the midpoint and the anchors is about all our brains can handle. 

Thus, we are left with: Extremely helpful, Very helpful, Somewhat helpful, Slightly helpful, Not at all helpful–five scale points. While there is a “middle” point, the expression of that point is decidedly not synonymous with “neutral.”

How helpful was this blog post?

Bipolar scales require seven scale points, three around each side of the midpoint–again, a midpoint that truly means neutral, neither, or both. If we go back to our school principal example, she would ask if the school day was: Much too long, Somewhat too long, A little too long, About right, A little too short, Somewhat too short, Much too short.

Is the current school day too long, too short, or about right?

There has long been a ton of debate and confusion about scale point numbering. The academic scholarship has demonstrated that scales are most reliable when constructed with five and seven scale points.

Numbered rating scales are used widely in survey science. In fact, Net Promoter Score is used to calculate customer satisfaction. However, you should be careful with how you use numbered rating scales.

Often, people associate numbers with meaning that may not align with your intention, according to Padgett.

For example, a sports fan may associate #1 with the best team in the league. Rushing through a survey, they could mistake 1 with the best outcome rather than your intention; for example, low satisfaction in a satisfaction survey.

Use verbal labels where possible; for example, “Very satisfied” to “Not at all satisfied.” And, if you must use numbers, explain your rating scale in your survey question.

Your data is only as good as the scale it sits on. Stop guessing and start uncovering the real story behind your audience’s feedback. With SurveyMonkey, you can build intuitive, expert-level surveys that turn opinions into growth.

Get started creating better surveys today with SurveyMonkey.