Comparative study reveals two-stage formats increase extreme responses in university students, suggesting enhanced predictive ability for consumer preferences.
This study examined the effect of alternative scale formats on reporting of intensity of attitudes on Likert scales of agreement. A standard one-stage format and an alternate two-stage format were tested in three separate studies on samples of university students in three countries. In general the two-stage format generated the greatest percentage of extreme-position (i.e. most intense) responses across scales. A test of predictive ability showed that the two-stage format was a better predictor of product preferences. Underlying data structures did not differ much between the two.
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Gerald Albaum (1997) studied this question.
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