Introduction

Sliding scales are a great way to gather data from customers. They allow you to ask a series of questions, and then provide a number of options for each answer. 

You can use this information to gauge customer satisfaction with your product or service, as well as determine what price point might be most effective to drive sales. Let’s take a look at how sliding scales survey works and when it might be best suited for gathering information.

What is a sliding scale survey?

A sliding scale survey is a type of graphical grading question that asks respondents to rate their feelings on a scale by sliding from 0 (not at all) to 10 (extremely). This type of survey can be used in marketing and research, but it also has many other uses.

Sliding scale surveys are useful for exploring people’s opinions in situations where it would be too difficult to ask them how they feel directly. For example, if you were trying to decide whether or not your business should introduce new products into its current line, it might be difficult to have people rate the new products on a scale of 0-10. 

Instead, you could ask them how likely they would be to buy each product before asking them which one they actually bought. Sliding scale surveys can also be used when you want to measure something over time. 

For example, if you wanted to see how well your company’s products were selling over time, you could use a sliding scale survey that asks customers how much they’ve spent on your products every month over several months’ worth of data.

What is a sliding scale question?

A sliding scale is a question that has a set of predetermined answers and one or more text boxes that can be used to provide additional information about your answer. It’s an effective way to collect data, but there are some considerations you need to keep in mind:

Sliding scales are good for collecting qualitative data such as how much people like your product, and quantitative data such as how many products were sold. They’re not so great for open-ended questions where the user has to choose their own answers but they’re still useful for collecting limited amounts of information from users on specific topics.

Types of Sliding scale questions

There are two main types of sliding scale questions: numerical slider and text slider.  

  1. Numerical Slider:  A numerical slider is where you provide a range (or list) of possible values for an attribute or variable, and users choose which number best fits their needs. You can use this type of slider as long as some value falls within the range provided by your question; otherwise, it won’t be meaningful to your users.
  2. Text Slider: In text sliders, respondents are asked to choose between three alternatives by typing one of them into the box on their device (or using a touchscreen on a smartphone).

What are the advantages of using a slider scale?

The advantages of this type of survey include:  

  • It’s easy to collect data from respondents because they have an option to select their desired preference in the exact amount of desirability.  
  • Slider scale is easy to use, and it’s easy for your customers to interpret.  
  • It also makes it easy to communicate what you’re doing with your product or service.
  • It’s easy for researchers to create questions that can be answered by choosing between different options.  
  • It’s easy to use on both desktop and mobile.

What are the disadvantages of using a slider scale?

  • It can be difficult to provide meaningful data if the range is too wide or too narrow.
  • It can also be difficult to interpret by the viewer if the data is not well presented.
  • It is also difficult to tell how much better or worse something is than some other value on the scale, which can be confusing for people who might be looking at the scale from different angles.

Slider Scales vs. Likert Scales 

The difference between slider scales and likert scales is that the former is a type of survey where users can choose from a range of options, while the latter is a type of survey where respondents answer questions.

The main difference between these two types of surveys is how they collect data. While slider scales give users a list of options to choose from, likert scales ask respondents to answer questions about their preferences.

Another important distinction between these two types of surveys is the way they score responses: slider scales assign points for each option selected by users, while likert scales use point totals to calculate a respondent’s response.

Lastly, Slider scales and Likert scales are both types of panel surveys. They differ in that a slider scale is one-dimensional, while a Likert scale is two-dimensional.

A slider scale allows the respondent to select an option from a range of options (the “slider”). A Likert scale allows the respondent to make a choice between two options (e.g., “strongly agree” vs. “disagree”).

Sliders vs Numbered Scales?

Slider scales are a type of scale that allow users to select answers from a range of options. They’re typically used when you have a range of answers, or maybe even just from one to five options, but you need your respondents to be able to select their choice from this range by themselves. 

If you’re going for a “feel good” response, or some other response that requires emotional intelligence, then it might be best for your survey participants to use slider scales rather than numbered ones.

Numbered scales work in much the same way as slider scales. They allow respondents to choose from a range of options by selecting numbers from 0-9 or some other set of symbols. 

However, these are not always well-suited for surveys where emotional intelligence is required because they do not allow respondents who cannot express themselves verbally (for example, people with autism) the opportunity to participate fully in surveys.

How to analyze data from slider scale question in survey

In order to analyze data from a slider scale question, you should first identify the principle being tested. This can be done by asking some basic questions: 

  1. What is the underlying assumption of the experiment? 
  2. Is there a particular outcome that you want to measure? 
  3. Have you defined your independent and dependent variables in a way that makes sense for your experiment?

Once you have your answers, it’s time to gather some data. You can accomplish this by using a random number generator (RNG) or another method of generating random numbers. 

Once you have generated enough data points, analyze them in order to determine what effect your independent variable had on your dependent variable. For example, let’s say you wanted to know how much your customers like your products and you want to know this by asking them whether they’d recommend your products or not. 

You’d create a scale with two options: “Very” and “Not at all.” Then, with each question on the scale, ask them to rate their feelings about each option from 1-5 (5 being strongly agree/agree).

The following steps will help you analyze the data from a slider scale question:

  • Comparing responses across multiple items on the same scale 
  • Comparing responses across different scales 
  • Comparing responses across multiple questions on the same scale

Tips for using slider questions in at survey

In order to create a survey with slider questions, you need to use two different formats: a question and an answer. The question will be on the left side of the screen, and the answer will be on the right. 

You want to make sure that the question is easy to read, because people are going to have a hard time answering it if they’re not familiar with your product or subject.

Here are some other tips that you can follow:

  1. Make sure every question is relevant to the slider scale you’re using (i.e., if you use a slider of 1-10 for your questions, make sure all of your questions are on a scale from 1-10).
  2. Make sure you have at least one answer for each question.
  3. If possible, include a checkbox option for respondents to choose from when answering your questions.
  4. Don’t forget to add the appropriate question category tags, labels, and descriptions to help respondents understand what they’re looking at when they answer questions on your survey!

Conclusion

Slider questions are great because they allow you to get more detailed answers than other types of surveys. But they also give you room for error because people can move around within their answers before submitting them.

In a survey, you’ll use slider questions to encourage your respondents to answer the questions you want them to. Slider questions give you the ability to compare two or more variables, and they can be used to determine how well your respondents understand the topic at hand.


  • Olayemi Jemimah Aransiola
  • on 7 min read

Formplus

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