Years ago, I conducted surveys over the phone. One company required us to ask each caller to rate their satisfaction with a business by saying they were very dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, somewhat satisfied, or very satisfied with their service. I thought it was sneaky--and kind of smart--not to provide a middle option, such as neutral or neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. When callers would say their level of satisfaction with the company was "in the middle," and I explained that the survey had no middle option, all but one caller then said they were somewhat satisfied.
It's interesting that the company bet that most callers would round up, so to speak. This then gave them a higher overall satisfaction than they would have had otherwise. Betting on human nature was a smart gamble, at least in the short term. Their somewhat elevated ratings might have masked problems customers had with them, though, so I wonder if they're still in business.
