How to Use Grid Questions
A number of the scales we recommend are skewed positively or negatively. (This means there are more positive or negative points rather than a symmetrical number.) We often skew scales on quality, problems, frequency and importance scales but not on support/favor questions. We create these skewed scales because we are countering social desirability bias (tendency to give more positive or negative responses that are socially acceptable) and/or want to make sure the scale is sensitive enough to capture full sentiment. (If every item in a list is considered minimally important, it does not make sense to provide 2 points on how unimportant an item is.)
You’ll want to consider using these scales when creating grid questions on Polco.
The use of “Don’t Know” as a response is not listed in these scales, but please consider adding this option at the end if you are asking a question where the respondent really could not know.
Quality scales: good for evaluating services or community characteristics
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Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor
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Very good, Good, Neither good nor bad, Bad, Very Bad
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Very well, Somewhat well, Somewhat poorly, Very poorly
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Very satisfied, Somewhat satisfied, Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, Somewhat dissatisfied, Very dissatisfied
Problem scales: good for identifying concerns not sufficiently addressed by service delivery
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Major problem, Moderate problem, Minor problem, Not a problem
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Large problem, Small problem, Not a problem at all
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Major concern, Moderate concern, Minor concern, Not a concern
Change scales: good for estimating impacts of programs, interventions
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Much better, A little better, About the same, A little worse, A lot worse
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Much better, A little better, No change, A little worse, Much worse
Amount scales: good for estimating consumption or use (consider a "Don’t know" response option here)
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Too much, About right, Too little
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Too many, About right, Too few
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A great deal, Quite a bit, Some, Not too much, Very little
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None, A few, Some, Most, All
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None, A little, A lot
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Far too much/many, Somewhat too much/many, Right amount, Somewhat too little/few, Far too little/few
Importance scales: good for determining resident values
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Essential, Very important, Somewhat important, Not important
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Extremely important, Very important, Somewhat important, Not at all important
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Very important, Moderately important, Slightly important, Not important
Frequency scales: good for estimating use of services (if you are asking a series of questions using a grid format, make sure the frequencies make sense.
Some types of activities make sense on a weekly level while others make sense on a monthly or annual level.)
[general]
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Never, Sometimes, Usually, Always
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Never, Almost never, Sometimes, Almost always, Always
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Never, Seldom, Sometimes, Almost always, Always
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Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Frequently, Always
[ever]
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Never, Once or twice, More than twice
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Not at all, 1 time, 2 times, 3 or more times
[times a year]
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Never, Once a year, Once a month, Once a week, Every day
[times a month]
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Never, One or two times a month, About once a week, A few times a week, Every day
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Never, 1 to 12 times, 13 to 25 times, 26+ times
Likelihood scales: good for projecting use of services not yet offered (consider a "Don’t know" response option here)
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Very likely, Somewhat likely, Somewhat unlikely, Very unlikely
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Very likely, Likely, Unlikely, Very unlikely
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Definitely will, Probably will, Probably not, Definitely not
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Definitely would, Probably would, Not sure, Probably would not, Definitely would not
“Polar” scales: good for determining policy options (consider a "Don't know" response option here)
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Strongly support, Support, Neither support nor oppose, Oppose, Strongly oppose
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Strongly support, Somewhat support, Somewhat oppose, Strongly oppose
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High priority, Medium priority, Low priority, Not a priority,
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Support/Oppose
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Strongly favor, Favor, Neither support nor oppose, Oppose, Strongly oppose
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Strongly favor, Somewhat favor, Somewhat oppose, Strongly oppose
Agree/Disagree: good if no better questions, as these require a positively or negatively skewed stem/list of items. (consider a "Don’t know" response option here)
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Strongly agree, Agree, Neither agree nor disagree, Disagree, Strongly disagree
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Strongly agree, Somewhat agree, Somewhat disagree, Strongly disagree