What do you think about MaxDiff or Pairwise Comparison for this topic? Expressing importance in absolute values and not as a comparison can be challenging for participants... Curious about your thoughts on this
expressing importance in absolute values can be tricky because people tend to rate everything as 'very important' or struggle to differentiate between priorities. maxdiff and pairwise comparison definitely help force trade-offs, which can make the insights sharper.
that said, i think it depends on what you need. maxdiff is great when you want a clear ranking of what matters most, but it doesn’t give you a sense of how much more important one thing is over another. pairwise can be even more granular, but it’s a heavier lift for participants and takes longer to analyze.
if you’re looking for something lightweight, you could modify the opportunity gap survey by framing it as a forced ranking within categories like, “you can only pick one top priority for this workflow” or “distribute 100 points across these needs.” that keeps it simple but still pushes people to make trade-offs.
so yeah, if you need precise prioritization, maxdiff or pairwise can work, but if you’re trying to balance depth with ease, a modified ranking or point allocation approach might get you what you need without overcomplicating it.
Such a GREAT article. Thank you SO SO much Nikki!
so happy you enjoyed it!
If I had heard about the Opportunity Gap survey earlier, I would have definitely saved a ton of time!
it's such a gem! really glad you have it now - let me know how it goes when you use it :)
What do you think about MaxDiff or Pairwise Comparison for this topic? Expressing importance in absolute values and not as a comparison can be challenging for participants... Curious about your thoughts on this
expressing importance in absolute values can be tricky because people tend to rate everything as 'very important' or struggle to differentiate between priorities. maxdiff and pairwise comparison definitely help force trade-offs, which can make the insights sharper.
that said, i think it depends on what you need. maxdiff is great when you want a clear ranking of what matters most, but it doesn’t give you a sense of how much more important one thing is over another. pairwise can be even more granular, but it’s a heavier lift for participants and takes longer to analyze.
if you’re looking for something lightweight, you could modify the opportunity gap survey by framing it as a forced ranking within categories like, “you can only pick one top priority for this workflow” or “distribute 100 points across these needs.” that keeps it simple but still pushes people to make trade-offs.
so yeah, if you need precise prioritization, maxdiff or pairwise can work, but if you’re trying to balance depth with ease, a modified ranking or point allocation approach might get you what you need without overcomplicating it.