The following recommendations are not required for your survey to pass the review process, but it is strongly recommended for creating high-quality surveys in Iowa. These best practices were developed in collaboration with a Qualtrics XM Scientist and Qualtrics Technical Success Manager, Hunter Markus.
These recommended scales are designed to improve the quality of survey data and make results easier to communicate whether you're measuring satisfaction, agreement, likelihood, or frequency.
The table below outlines examples of fully labeled 5-point scales, ordered from the most negative response to the most positive, along with guidance on how to apply Top Two Box scoring, which highlights the percentage of respondents selecting the most favorable responses of Excellent or Very Good. You'll also find best practices for using text-based labels instead of numbers, how many scale points to use, how your scale's display order affects automatic recoding, and when it's appropriate to include options like Don't Know or N/A.
These practices are not mandatory but are strongly recommended to help you design surveys that are accessible, meaningful, and aligned with Iowa's commitment to quality public service.
Survey Methodology
The scale-ordering, recode-value, and N/A guidance on this page comes from an internal CX training session on survey methodology. If you'd like the full context, including why forms and surveys are treated differently and how Qualtrics's recode logic works, see:
Qualtrics CX Survey Methodology Video
Understanding Top Two Box Scoring in Surveys
Scores can range from 0 to 100 and measure the percentage of customers who evaluated their experience as Excellent or Very Good. Other scale points are also available and can be displayed online or in reports. A score of about 70% is considered positive and above 80%, best-in-class. Scores less than 60% are considered weak.
Why Textual Labels Instead of Numeric?
- Preference: Respondents prefer to give word ratings rather than numeric ratings.
- Communication: Textual labels allow for easier communication of results. It enables us to say 80% of customers Strongly Agree or Somewhat Agree that Company A is trustworthy rather than 80% of customers said 5 or 4 on Company A is a company I can trust.
How Many Scale Points Should I Use?
Use an odd number of scale points, typically 5, though 3 or 7 are also acceptable, so respondents have a true neutral midpoint. For example, Neither agree nor disagree. An even number of points removes that midpoint and forces a directional answer. This isn't automatically wrong, but it's a deliberate design choice, so confirm with the survey owner that forcing a direction is intentional before building an even-numbered scale.
Scale Order and Recode Values
Always display your scale from most negative to most positive: leftmost-to-rightmost on a horizontal scale, or topmost-to-bottommost on a vertical scale. See the reordered table below for an example.
This matters because Qualtrics's automatic Recode Values feature assumes this same negative-to-positive order and assigns the lowest number, for example 1, to the leftmost/topmost choice and the highest number, for example 5, to the rightmost/bottommost choice. Recode Values are what let you average a scale question over time, turning Strongly agree and Strongly disagree into numbers you can chart on a trendline. If your displayed scale runs positive-to-negative instead, Qualtrics's recode will still assign 1 to the leftmost/topmost option, which is now your positive answer. The result is a trendline that reads backwards - an improving score will look like it's declining.
Before publishing a survey, confirm that:
- The scale is displayed negative-to-positive.
- Recode Values assign the lowest number to the most negative response and the highest number to the most positive response.
Should I Include a Donβt Know or N/A Option in a Rating Scale?
- It's not recommended for any question except when asking about very specific experiences, covered below. Better to let them skip the question.
- Relational surveys: There is rarely if ever a logical, rational, or emotional reason to have N/A included on the NPS behavioral question. If a customer has interacted in any way, no matter the length of time, they have developed or have begun to develop an attitude toward the organization. They can reasonably answer the question. Better to have them skip the question.
- Touchpoint surveys: However, it may be more acceptable to ask in touchpoint.
- Example: If they are vegan and never visit the meat department, N/A is appropriate for the touchpoint.
- If you do include a Don't Know/N/A option, place it last in the choice list: rightmost on a horizontal scale, bottommost on a vertical scale. In Recode Values, set it to Exclude from Analysis so it doesn't get averaged in with the rest of the scale and distort your score. If the question is multiple select, mark the N/A choice exclusive so choosing it clears any other selections the respondent made.