Visual Analog Scales

Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is a type of psychometric scale that uses a continuous measurement indicator rather than the multiple discrete indicators more common in many other types of measurement scales. Respondents to VAS make a subjective judgment on where their answer lies on a continuum and then mark their response on a VAS line. The VAS tends to be used to measure the same kinds of psychological phenomena that traditional rating scales are used to measure, such as mood, satisfaction, well-being, or psychological pain. For instance, respondents may be shown a horizontal line and asked to mark on the line their level of pain, where the left-most point represents no pain and the right-most point represents extreme pain. Researchers can then use the continuous ...