Rating scales are closed-ended questions. They’re similar to ‘yes or no’ questions except that rating scales are used to evaluate the extremity of the respondents’ opinions, usually on a scale of 1-5 (or 1-10 to allow for an ambivalent response of “5”).

An alternative approach is to ask respondents how much they agree (or disagree) with a statement, with answers ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”. It’s essentially the same thing as numbered answers but with a different style of communication.

• Numbered: “How would you rate your booking experience?” [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• Statement: “has the best booking experience” [strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither agree or disagree, somewhat agree, strongly agree]

2 great ways to use our rating scale template

By calculating the average rating regularly and consistently, improvement can be tracked over time, which is extremely useful for monitoring objectives.

Alternatively, responses can be segmented. As an example, further, more qualitative research could be conducted with respondents that chose a low rating.