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From a statistician's standpoint, ratings systems suck. But, from a consumer standpoint, they are super easy to understand. A scatter plot system makes sense to
by ericcholis 14y ago
From a statistician's standpoint, ratings systems suck. But, from a consumer standpoint, they are super easy to understand. A scatter plot system makes sense to me, but I would never put it in front of a user.
In my opinion, current ratings systems are 80% UX and 20% data.
For example, Newegg uses a pretty intuitive system of allowing you to sort a product page by Best Reviews and Most Reviews. In my opinion, this allows the user to make a more educated decision if they seek the information out.
- nodata 14y agoFrom a consumer standpoint, a single five star review pushing a product to the top of the list is not easy to understand, it's a pain.
- geelen 14y agoThis a big reason we went with scatter plots - when there's only a handful of points you don't get misled.
- ericcholis 14y agoThe simple answer there relates back to UX, just don't show the stars when there isn't enough data. Set a minimum number of reviews as a baseline so that you don't get the result you mentioned. If there is a written review component, make a note of the review but don't quantify the value of said review until the minimum threshold is reached.
- slantyyz 14y agoWhen there are only a handful of reviews, I find myself using "gymnastics rules" and throwing out the best and worst score. Probably not very scientific though.