Investigating rating scale category utility.

Eight guidelines are suggested to aid the analyst in investigating whether rating scales categories are cooperating to produce observations on which valid measurement can be based. These guidelines are presented within the context of Rasch analysis. They address features of rating-scale-based data such as category frequency, ordering, rating-to-measure inferential coherence, and the quality of the scale from measurement and statistical perspectives. The manner in which the guidelines prompt recategorization or reconceptualization of the rating scale is indicated. Utilization of the guidelines is illustrated through their application to two published data sets.