I know how weird this idea sounds.
"Let's all rate things on an 11-point scale with half-point increments where half the scale is negative numbers."
I know how weird this idea sounds because I thought the same thing when I was introduced to the scale.
But this neat little -5 -> 5 scale has, I've found, some neat cognitive effects on the person providing the rating. Especially if used long enough to start thinking in terms of this scale rather than 'translating' from a traditional 1 -> 10 or 0 -> 5 scale.
The first cognitive effect comes from the fact that thanks to the scale having an odd number of points and negative values, 0 becomes an intuitive 'center'. The obvious middle that is nothing. This is where "did not like nor dislike" more naturally falls. A 5/10 is still a value. 0 is neutral, a starting point. I've found in my time (3 years now) rating albums using this scale, I now subconsciously think about what the album does to move it away from 0, either up or down, rather than starting from one extreme - 0 or 10 - and looking for reasons to either give it a not perfect score or a not perfectly bad score. It leads to many more of my ratings falling around 0, like a true normal distribution.
The second cognitive effect is that the scale is so different from how North American education gives grades that people are able to more easily separate their thought process for rating things from grading things. No more "7/10 is mid because a 70% is a C". There isno 7/10 in this scale, it is too different from grades in academia. I've ranted about this at length before.
Lastly, I think it also helps that a positive (1-5) score on this scale generally denotes various levels of enjoyment while a -5 -> -1 negative score generally denotes dislike or lack of enjoyment.
So yeah, consider breaking your patterns a bit give the -5:5 scale a shot. And yes me thinking about this now means I have been working on getting my music ratings page back! We're 75% of the way there I just need to make a template more or two.
_ _ _
Thoughts? Send me an email!
kagumail.uselessly535@passinbox.com
Feel free to remain anonymous and send it from a secure mailer!
