| Abstract: | The responses to many survey questions are often made in terms of vague quantifiers such as very often or occasionally. However, we know little about the scale characteristics of such quantifiying terms. This paper reviews the literature on the use of frequency expressions as questionnaire anchor points. Data are presented which suggest that the popularly used five-point response category set of always, often, occasionally, seldom, and never is not intervally scaled. Utilizing data obtained through ratio estimation, an approximately equal interval measurement scale is developed for a five-point response category set. |
