Which scale has a line with contrasting descriptors at either end?

Which scale has a line with contrasting descriptors at either end?

• A. Visual analog scale
• B. Visual rating scale
• C. Graphic rating
• D. Number scale

Answer: (A)

Visual analog scale uses a straight line with endpoints that describe the extremes of the sensation or attribute being measured (for example, no pain at one end and worst imaginable pain at the other). The person marks a point along the line to show how intense their experience is, and the position is measured as a distance from one end, giving a continuous score. This setup provides fine-grained data and can detect small changes more precisely than scales with a fixed set of categories. Other options typically use discrete steps or labeled points, which limits precision compared to the continuous line of the visual analog scale.

Visual analog scale uses a straight line with endpoints that describe the extremes of the sensation or attribute being measured (for example, no pain at one end and worst imaginable pain at the other). The person marks a point along the line to show how intense their experience is, and the position is measured as a distance from one end, giving a continuous score. This setup provides fine-grained data and can detect small changes more precisely than scales with a fixed set of categories. Other options typically use discrete steps or labeled points, which limits precision compared to the continuous line of the visual analog scale.