How do questionnaires measure? More response options may not improve psychological measurement
High-quality measurement is the foundation of nearly all psychological research—virtually no research on the human psyche can do without it, regardless of what it is studying. The vast majority of psychological studies rely on questionnaires in which respondents rate their traits using the so-called Likert scale, and the question of how many response options such a scale should have has accompanied researchers since the very beginning of its use. Although this may seem like a technical detail at first glance, the answer to this question can fundamentally influence how accurately and reliably questionnaires actually measure what they are intended to measure. A recent study by our colleagues Petra Hubatka, Hynek Cígler, and David Elek, published in the prestigious journal *Assessment*, addresses this very question.
