Binary choice vs ratings scales A behavioural science perspective

摘要

This paper argues for the adoption of binary choice over ratings scales, from the knowledge that the majority of human decision making takes place in what Kahneman (2011) and others have described as 'system 1'. Negative issues associated with the use of ratings scales in surveys have been widely reported (e.g. Revilla 2015), with the binary choice response option having been proposed as a better method due to its elimination of a number of biases. Given that we regularly classify concepts, objects, organisations or other people in binary format using system 1, the binary choice response option would seem to provide a method not only less biased than ratings scales but, critically, more realistic.