Measurement properties of completely and end labeled unipolar and bipolar scales in Likert-type questions on income (in)equality.

Autor: Höhne JK; Collaborative Research Center SFB 884 'Political Economy of Reforms', University of Mannheim, B6 30-32, 68131 Mannheim, Germany; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology, Mercè Rodoreda 24.406, Ramón Trías Fargas, 25-27, 08005 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: hoehne@uni-mannheim.de., Krebs D; University of Giessen, Institute of Sociology, Karl-Glöckner-Straße 21E, 35394 Gießen, Germany. Electronic address: dagmar.krebs@sowi.uni-giessen.de., Kühnel SM; University of Göttingen, Center of Methods in Social Sciences, Goßlerstraße 19, 37073 Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: steffen.kuehnel@sowi.uni-goettingen.de.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Social science research [Soc Sci Res] 2021 Jul; Vol. 97, pp. 102544. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Mar 02.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102544
Abstrakt: The measurement of respondents' attitudes is key in social science research and many adjacent research fields. A common method to measure this information is to use Likert-type questions that consist of a statement that is evaluated with a rating scale. As shown by previous research, the scale design of Likert-type questions can have a profound impact on respondents' answer behavior. In this study, we therefore investigate the measurement properties of scales that systematically vary with respect to polarity (i.e., unipolar and bipolar) and labeling (i.e., completely and end). We conducted a survey experiment in a probability-based online panel (N = 4851) and used questions on income (in)equality that were adopted from the European Social Survey (ESS). The results reveal considerable differences between the scales under investigation. They show that end labeled unipolar and bipolar scales accomplish the criteria of equidistance best. Completely labeled bipolar scales, in contrast, only show a poor performance in terms of equidistance. Completely labeled unipolar scales are somewhere in between. Overall, our findings suggest that researchers should be careful when using survey data measured with (slightly) different scales because the results might not be comparable.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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