Looking to conduct research? Want to run a survey? Need to collect people’s opinions and attitudes?
One of the first things you need to decide on is the survey technique and methodology. And one of the essential questions that raises is – which survey scale are you going to use?
With so many measurement scales available, novice researchers and marketers often feel confused when they need to conduct more advanced statistical research and data analysis.
To help you make a more informed decision, we will present the semantic differential scale, one of the simplest and easiest survey scales to use. Researchers commonly use it in marketing research through questionnaires, surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and it works well for different types of consumer research.
Semantic Differential Scale in Surveys: Definition and Key Examples
First, we will briefly define the semantic differential scale. Then, we will share some examples of how you can use it in surveys and compare it to other popular survey scales to give you a full picture of its uses.
Let’s start.
What is a semantic differential scale?
Semantic differential scale was invented by Charles Egerton Osgood. He was a well-known American psychologist who created it to record the connotative meaning of emotional attitudes toward different topics and to make it easier to use and analyze the findings.
Today, researchers primarily use semantic differential scales in questionnaires and surveys. They use it to capture people’s emotional reactions or attitudes toward a particular topic and to let customers rate products, services, brands, or organizations.
What Is a Semantic Differential Scale in Surveys?
Typically, a semantic differential scale works as a rating scale. It begins and ends with semantically opposite options. These options usually include polar adjectives such as “like–dislike,” “satisfied–dissatisfied,” and “would recommend–wouldn’t recommend.” The scale also includes different degrees between these opposite options.
Different types of semantic differential scales
When Osgood first conducted his research, he discovered that three scales were commonly and universally useful:
- Evaluation. A scale that determines whether someone has a positive or negative opinion about a certain topic. (Commonly used adjectives: Bad – Good, Cruel – Kind, Ugly – Beautiful, Sad – Happy, Negative – Positive, Unpleasant – Pleasant, Worthless – Valuable)
- Potency. A scale that determines how strong or weak a person’s attitude towards something is or how powerful the topic is for them. (Commonly used adjectives: Weak – Strong, Small – Large, Soft – Hard, Light – Heavy, Shallow – Deep, Submissive – Assertive, Simple – Complex)
- Activeness. A scale measuring whether the topic is regarded as active or passive. (Commonly used adjectives: Passive – Active, Relaxed – Tense, Slow – Fast, Cold – Hot, Quiet – Noisy, Dim – Bright, Rounded – Angular)
You can apply the combination of these three scales to marketing and sales today. For example, you can measure how likely customers are to purchase the new product you’re about to launch and whether they feel satisfied with the quality of your current offering.
Semantic differential scale example
Below, you can see an example of a semantic differential questionnaire.
Usually, researchers create semantic differential scale questions on a 7-point answer scale. This scale starts from the negative pole and moves toward the positive one. However, you do not have to follow this structure.
You can add as many topics to your survey/questionnaire and easily gather the responses for further analysis. If you’re using LeadQuizzes to make a survey based on the semantic differential scale, it’s advanced reporting feature will allow you to easily collect, export, and assess all of the answers.
Semantic differential vs. other types of survey scales
Semantic differential scale is just one of the scales used in surveys and questionnaires, of course. To help decide on the right one, here’s a short overview of different types of scales commonly used in surveys.
Likert scale
Likert scale is one of the most commonly used ways of measuring perceptions, attitudes, and opinions. It allows survey respondents to express their attitude by choosing one of the provided answer options.
Similarly, semantic differential questions offer two opposite answer options with several grading levels in between. Likert scale questions also provide a wide range of choices. These options usually range from one extreme, such as “strongly agree,” to another, such as “strongly disagree.”
Even though Likert and semantic differential scales seem very similar, they have one key difference. With Likert scales, you rate a specific statement. That statement refers to a particular topic. In contrast, semantic differential scales let you rate the topic itself.
For example, in a Likert scale questionnaire, you can get a statement such as
I like survey scales.
And then you can pick from a range of options that vary in degree, such as “strongly agree”, “very much agree”, “not sure”, “pretty much disagree”, and “strongly disagree”.
Semantic Differential Scale Explained with Examples and Alternatives
The main issue with Likert scales is that they can lead to acquiescence response bias. This bias occurs when survey respondents agree with a statement more often than they disagree. They do this regardless of their true attitude or opinion.
How to Use a Semantic Differential Scale in Surveys
You can avoid this issue by structuring questions as real questions instead of statements or by using a semantic differential scale. In a survey based on the semantic differential scale, you choose a topic like “survey scales” and select from a range of polar adjectives that start with “like” and end with “dislike.” This way, you leave much less room for bias in research.
Thurstone Scale
Researchers first used the Thurstone scale to measure attitudes on different topics and issues. This scale includes a set of statements about a specific topic along with a numerical value that shows how favorable or unfavorable people consider each statement.
In such surveys, respondents only tick the statements they agree with. After that, the researcher calculates the mean score that shows the respondent’s attitude toward the issue in question. If you want to learn exactly how to create, score, and analyze surveys based on this scale, you can read more about the Thurstone scale.
Thurstone scale vs. semantic differential scale? Well, its complexity and advanced math make researchers use the Thurstone scale less often in surveys today. In fact, researchers developed the Likert scale from the Thurstone scale to simplify the original approach. That being said, you will see the semantic differential scale more often in research nowadays.
Guttman scale
The Guttman scale (also commonly referred to as the cumulative scale), measures the strength of the respondents’ opinion. It’s not just used to obtain an attitude, it assesses how positive or negative that attitude is considered to be.
In a way, it is similar to the semantic differential scale used to measure potency. Guttman scale rests upon a series of tightly related questions which increase in specificity. In most cases, those are ‘yes/no’ questions that can tell us how strongly a person approves or disapproves of a certain attitude or opinion.
Here’s an example of a survey question based on a Guttman scale:
In the example above, we show a more practical scale where respondents check all the statements they agree with instead of answering six individual “yes” or “no” questions. Here’s a more detailed guide on the Guttman scale if you want to learn more about how to incorporate it into your surveys and decide whether to choose it or the semantic differential scale.
Understanding the Semantic Differential Scale: Definition and Uses
Now you understand the different scale options you can use in your surveys. It is time to choose the right one for your needs.
You can choose a simple semantic differential scale. You can also choose a more common Likert scale. More complex options like the Guttman or Thurstone scale are also available. You can still create a survey with ease.
Just sign in to your LeadQuizzes account. Choose one of the pre-designed templates. Or create a brand new survey from scratch.