Why a seven-point scale?

2009-05-14 · quintin3265

Historical announcement; references to uploads, registration and other interactive services describe the original site.

Someone asked me why I designed this site so that songs are rated on a scale from 1 to 7, instead of from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, as is more common across the Internet. The reason is that academic research indicates a 7-point scale is the most accurate for determining public opinion in surveys.

If you think about it, this should seem intuitive. If a 10-point scale were used, and there was a song that was good but not quite perfect, would you rate it an 8 or a 9? How would you know the difference? With a 7-point scale, there is a big difference between a 5 and a 6, and a near-perfect song will always be accurately rated a 6.