Looking at data around the effectiveness of learning, I’m always drawn to the point where people are asked how they felt the training/learning/event was and are asked to score it on a simple 1-6, or worse, 1-5 scale.

How can you say what something is like when you don’t have a comparator?

We could be manipulative:
How was the course compared to being locked in a room with your greatest fear all day?

We could be surreal:
How was the course compared to watching a purple painted seal doing handstands on a statue of the Eiffel Tower while singing the greatest hits of Shirley Bassey?

We could be confusing:
On a scale of 1 to 10 what would you rate the course where you are only allowed to score below 8 if your mother’s maiden name has an X in it, and you have a grandparent whose birthday falls in the Autumn but on an odd number date only?

Or we could be honest:
How was the course compared to not working?

There is a place for qualitative feedback but this isn’t the way to do it.