The DOI matches its Crossref record; 5 of the 5 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Optimal Number of Response Alternatives for a Scale: A Review
Abstract
A conceptual framework employing the distinction between stimulus-centered and subject-centered scales is presented as a basis for reviewing 80 years of literature on the optimal number of response alternatives for a scale. Concepts and research from information theory and the absolute judgment paradigm of psychophysics are used. The author reviews the major factors influencing the quality of scaled information, points out areas in particular need of additional research, and makes some recommendations for the applied researcher.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests
Cronbach, L. J. (1951) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/bf02310555 · Cited by 43,931
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
Miller, G. A. (1956) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0043158 · Cited by 17,812
Estimation of the reliability of ratings.
Ebel, R. L. (1951) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/bf02288803 · Cited by 976
On the loss of reliability in ratings due to coarseness of the scale
Symonds, P. M. (1924) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0074469 · Cited by 194
EFFECTS OF CATEGORIZING CONTINUOUS NORMAL VARIABLES ON PRODUCT-MOMENT CORRELATION
NISHISATO, S., & TORII, Y. (1971) · Japanese Psychological Research · doi:10.4992/psycholres1954.13.45 · Cited by 27
Cited by
A Meta-Analysis of Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha
Peterson, R. A. (1994) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/209405 · Cited by 3,028
Mittal, V., & Kamakura, W. A. (2001) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmkr.38.1.131.18832 · Cited by 2,256
Preston, C. C., & Colman, A. M. (2000) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/s0001-6918(99)00050-5 · Cited by 2,106
Zeithaml, V. A. (2000) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1177/0092070300281007 · Cited by 1,919
Wang, B., Rau, P.-L. P., & Yuan, T. (2023) · Behaviour & Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2022.2072768 · Cited by 1,036
Metadata
- Authors
- Cox, E. P.
- Venue
- Journal of Marketing Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1980-11
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 407-422
- ISSN
- 0022-2437 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-7193
- OpenAlex
- W2313569764
- Cited by
- 811
- References
- 5
- FWCI
- 1.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Optimal Number of Response Alternatives for a Scale: A Review. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/002224378001700401
- The paper
- Cox, E. P. (1980). The Optimal Number of Response Alternatives for a Scale: A Review. Journal of Marketing Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378001700401
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.