The use of rating scales in psychophysical research: a short review.

One of the major and continuing debates among perceptual psychologists and physiologists relates to the preferred method to employ in obtaining psychophysical judgements. One of the difficulties in assessing subjective reactions to work is that, as a privately experienced sensation, perceived exertion can only be measured indirectly through the use of self-report techniques. Several techniques, (e.g. ratio scaling and category scaling) are available to researchers, but each method has inherent advantages and limitations. In some cases, ratio-scaling techniques are more appropriate, as when evaluating the growth of subjective sensations with increasing stimulus intensity. On the other hand, when there is a need to make comparisons between work tasks or between individuals, particularly in clinical and applied settings, the category methods are preferable. There is, however, general agreement that the Borg scale should be used in most cases, as it has shown versatility, parsimony and validity