Odd or even number of categories: The decision whether to
use an odd or an even number of categories is related to
whether to include a middle or neutral category. Not including
a neutral option may mean that you force your respondents to
take a stance on an issue about which they feel neutral. On the
other hand, providing a neutral option may lead to some
respondents choosing the neutral position even though they do Questionnaire design © 9
have an opinion on the issue. There is no clear-cut solution to
this problem. It is important, however, to place the neutral
position in the middle, as respondents seem to be more likely to
choose categories towards the end of a scale (Neuman 2001: