The measurement of respondents' attitudes is key in social science research and many adjacent research fields. A common method to measure this information is to use Likert-type questions that consist of a statement that is evaluated with a rating scale. As shown by previous research, the scale design of Likert-type questions can have a profound impact on respondents’ answer behavior. In this study, we therefore investigate the measurement properties of scales that systematically vary with respect to polarity (i.e., unipolar and bipolar) and labeling (i.e., completely and end). We conducted a survey experiment in a probability-based online panel (N = 4851) and used questions on income (in)equality that were adopted from the European Social Survey (ESS). The results reveal considerable differences between the scales under investigation. They show that end labeled unipolar and bipolar scales accomplish the criteria of equidistance best. Completely labeled bipolar scales, in contrast, only show a poor performance in terms of equidistance. Completely labeled unipolar scales are somewhere in between. Overall, our findings suggest that researchers should be careful when using survey data measured with (slightly) different scales because the results might not be comparable.

测量受访者的态度是社会科学研究和许多相邻研究领域的关键。衡量此信息的常用方法是使用李克特类型的问题，该问题由使用评级量表评估的陈述组成。正如以往的研究表明，李克特式问题的量表设计会对受访者的回答行为产生深远的影响。因此，在本研究中，我们研究了在极性（即单极和双极）和标记（即完全和结束）方面系统地变化的尺度的测量特性。我们在基于概率的在线小组 (N = 4851) 中进行了一项调查实验，并使用了来自欧洲社会调查 (ESS) 的收入（不）平等问题。结果揭示了被调查的尺度之间的巨大差异。他们表明，末端标记的单极和双极尺度最符合等距离标准。相比之下，完全标记的双极尺度仅在等距离方面表现不佳。完全标记的单极标度介于两者之间。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，研究人员在使用（略有）不同尺度测量的调查数据时应该小心，因为结果可能无法比较。