3 ms·
Yup, the system is pretty broken, 4.5 stars is "pretty good", anything else is questionable. This is because the average is a mean, and the scale is 1 to 5 star
by InclinedPlane 10y ago
Yup, the system is pretty broken, 4.5 stars is "pretty good", anything else is questionable. This is because the average is a mean, and the scale is 1 to 5 stars.
The average of 1 and 5 is 3, so 3, not 2.5, is a "mixed reactions" score. With two 1s and one 5 the average is 2. So if you ever see something with a two star average, run. With a single 5 star review, it takes 16 one star reviews to bring the average down to over star, to reflect the majority opinion.
- imtringued 10y agoI still don't know why we use scales to rate anything. It gives us the illusion of being able to compare two scores with each other. By dumping everything into a scale the only thing we know is: on average it might be good or bad. It doesn't tell us whether it's actually good or bad. It makes far more sense to just ask a few yes or no questions with some context. Did it deliver on time? Did the product arrive without damage? Is the product fit for purpose? etc Different people value different things. With a linear score a good "attribute" that you don't care about might cancel out a bad "attribute" that you do care about since both end up in the same pot.