title: "Translating" between survey answer formats.
abstract: Survey research remains the most popular source of market knowledge, yet researchers have not yet established one consistent technique for measuring responses. Some market research companies offer respondents two answer options; others five or seven. Some answer formats use middle points on the answer scales, others do not. Some formats verbalize all answer options, some only the endpoints. The wide variety of answer formats that market research companies and academic researchers use makes comparing results across studies virtually impossible. This study offers guidance for market researchers by presenting empirical translations for the answer formats they most commonly use, thus enabling easier comparisons of results.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Innovation in Business and Social Research, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dolnicar
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Statistics, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, 4040 Linz, Austria.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grün
keywords: Answer formats; Likert; Questionnaire design; Survey research