Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Scales are widely used to evaluate subjective dimensions in questionnaires. Two main formats are used: Likert scalesand Visual Analogue Scales (VAS). Previous studies have shown mixed results regarding which format to favor. The aimof the current study is to compare formats and presentation types for each type of scale. 658 participants participated inthe study and completed a trust scale. Several characteristics of scales (e.g., valence of anchors) were explored, and 11formats of scales were compared. The results show that participants’ responses were different according to the type ofscale (i.e., Likert or VAS), the initial cursor’s position in the VAS, and the anchors’ valence in the VAS. Differences interms of reliability were found between VAS formats and the number of categories in Likert scales. These findings suggestthat the scale format is crucial and may influence data collection as well as suggesting related conclusions.