The effect of rating scale format on response styles: The number of response categories and response category labels

Questionnaires using Likert-type rating scales are an important source of data in marketing research. Researchers use different rating scale formats with varying number of response categories and varying label formats (e.g., seven point rating scales labeled at the endpoints, fully labeled five point scales…), but have few guidelines when selecting a specific format. Drawing from the response style literature, we formulate hypotheses on the effect of the labeling of response categories and the number of response categories on net acquiescence response style, extreme response style and misresponse to reversed items. We test the hypotheses in an online survey (N=1207) with eight experimental conditions and a follow-up study with two experimental conditions (N = 226). We find evidence of strong effects of scale format on response distributions and misresponse to reversed items and formulate recommendations on scale format choice