Hi all,
I'm currently in the analysis phase for a program evaluation/scale development project where most of the questions follow a standardized option response format:
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
However, there is one item whose response options are:
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
My question is, for the type of analysis I'm doing (year over year differences, some validity/reliability using R), would this item for which the mid-point response option is "Neutral" as opposed to Neither agree nor disagree" make a significant difference in my analysis results? Could I interpret the results with confidence given the change in wording for the mid-point option, or could I move forward with analysis with the inclusion of this item? I would omit it entirely, but it belongs to a scale comprising 5 items.
Thank you in advance for any guidance!
One way to answer this question is to look at the psychological meaning of these two options. "Neither agree nor disagree" implies that the respondent has some degree of ambivalence or uncertainty about the statement, while "neutral" implies that the respondent has no strong feelings or opinions either way. Therefore, these two options may capture different aspects of the respondent's attitude or belief.One way to answer this question is to look at the psychological meaning of these two options. "Neither agree nor disagree" implies that the respondent has some degree of ambivalence or uncertainty about the statement, while "neutral" implies that the respondent has no strong feelings or opinions either way. Therefore, these two options may capture different aspects of the respondent's attitude or belief.
Another way to answer this question is to look at the statistical implications of these two options. Depending on how the data is analyzed, these two options may have different effects on the results. For example, if the data is treated as ordinal, then "neither agree nor disagree" and "neutral" may be assigned different numerical values, such as 3 and 4 respectively, which may affect the mean and standard deviation of the responses. Alternatively, if the data is treated as nominal, then "neither agree nor disagree" and "neutral" may be combined into one category, which may affect the frequency and proportion of the responses.
Therefore, there may be a significant difference between "neither agree nor disagree" and "neutral" response options depending on how they are interpreted and analyzed.
Dr-Zaffar Ahmad Nadaf Thank you for the insights! Very true about the psychological implications.
In terms of the statistical analyses, both response options ("Neither agree nor disagree" and "Neutral") would be coded as 3, since they occupy that "middle" third position within the response options themselves.
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