Insight into the relative merits of rating and ranking in a cross-national context using three-way correspondence analysis

In sensory and marketing research both ratings and rankings are frequently used to measure values or preferences. There is no consensus as to the preferred method. Moreover, cross-national studies concerning this topic are scarce, preventing insight into the comparability of measurement procedures across countries. In this paper, we study rating and ranking of values by the same respondents in five countries in the European Union. Insight is given into the relative merits of rating and ranking measurement by using three-way correspondence analysis. Our findings show that rating and ranking are assessed quite similarly by people from different countries. The minor differences that exist may be explained by cultural differences in response patterns in ratings. Finally, we recommend a combined rating-ranking approach to determine the preference order for all values in a set, including those considered to be of moderate importance. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.