RATING SCALES 
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en 
—1_ 
SE Te stor TI Se ai 
Figure 14: Distribution of self-judgments of roo college students in answer 
to the question “What are your tendencies with regard to unburdening your 
inmost feelings to others?” (55). This is a fairly normal distribution of 
ratings, and implies that the phrases were well chosen and spaced. 
If there are five phrases, make the intermediate ones 
closer in meaning to the central one than to the extremes but 
maintain an equal amount of linear space between phrases. 
This has the effect of spreading the distribution. The same 
end may be accomplished by making the intervals on the 
scale larger between the central phrase and the intermediate 
ones than between the intermediate ones and the extremes. 
The phrases used should have the same meaning to all 
raters. Slang is occasionally effective, but there must be 
no doubt about its meaning. Special terms and phrases in 
use in the occupation may be freely substituted for more 
general terms. 
Avoid such terms as average, very, extremely, excellent, 
good, fair, or poor. It is better to use adjectives which in 
themselves express varying degrees of the ability. Thus, in 
place of extremely neat one may say fastidious, or in place 
of very careless in dress one may say slovenly. 
Make the descriptive phrases short, concise, and apt. 
Have the phrases set in small type with plenty of white 
space between them. 
Have the two extreme phrases set flush with the ends of 
the line. 
Allow no breaks or divisions in the rating line. Where 
the line is divided vertically into five or ten parts, accuracy 
of rating is sacrificed for convenience in scoring. 
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