A Likert scale can be a valuable tool if you want to know the attitude of people quantitatively. Psychologists have developed various scales that measure the attitude of people, though the Likert scale remains the most commonly used.

It was developed in 1932, based on the principle of selecting a response from several related choices. The respondents were expected to state the extent to which they agree or disagree with the statements. This action by the respondents revealed their cognitive and affective aspects.

What is the Likert Scale?

The Likert scale is a type of survey that uses a satisfaction scale that ranges from a specified extreme to another. To understand the Likert scale better, you need to recall when you answered a question as to how much you agree or disagree with an item. That is how the Likert scale works; it measures the opinion of the respondent on an item.

Compared to the binary type of questions that only give two possible answers, Likert scales give better feedback because it details the value of the item. For example, if it was a product – it would detail how many found a product to be excellent, just good, satisfactory, bad, or extremely bad.

Likert Scale Templates & Examples

Reporting on a Likert Scale

The traditional reporting way is when values are added to each response made and a score generated for a respondent. The final score can be used to indicate whether the respondents were satisfied or dissatisfied with the item.

This kind of reporting is beneficial when evaluating the opinions of respondents regarding the products/services, purchasing, or satisfaction features. Charts can be made out of the scores to represent the varied opinions of the consumer market, which can influence further decisions that need to be made to attain positive responses.

If you want to analyze the data further, you can cross-tabulate the contributing factors with the mean. The scores would have better meaning if there is a close relationship with the topic at hand and with each other.

If you are measuring a psychological behavior, the Likert scale should have all questions categorized similarly to make the summed score reliable. If there is an odd item that doesn’t fit with the rest, the Likert scale results will be polluted and may be problematic to interpret the total score.

How to Analyze Likert Scale Data?

The mode and the median can be used to summarize a Likert scale. Don’t use the mean to interpret the data, as it will mislead you.

The mod is a preferred method of data analysis using the Likert scale as it offers an easy and accurate interpretation of data.

The data in a Likert scale is not continuous, a bar chart can be used to display the data. However, the nature of the data cannot allow using a histogram for presentation.

When to Use a Likert Scale Questionnaire?

You can use a Likert scale questionnaire when you want to measure the overall feeling of people on a product, experience, opinion, or topic. It also provides statistical data information about factors that led to the respondents expressing a certain sentiment.

A Likert scale will be inaccurate if some of the questions used on the Likert scale are not related to each other. The options must also be presented in a scale form for it to be accurate.

For smooth analysis, you should not mix scales for the different questions on the Likert scale. If you do so, it will become hard to analyze the data.

A Likert scale is an excellent tool that can be used to get the opinions of your employees, students, colleagues, or even family. It is easy, simple, and convenient.

How to Write Likert Scale Survey Questions?

  • Be accurate. You must be accurate and precise when writing Likert-type questions. This will remove any ambiguity in the questions, thus avoiding any confusion. It is important to be very specific about what you are asking so that the respondents give accurate information. For example, if you are asking about satisfaction with a service at a restaurant, you must be specific about the service. It could be customer care, waiters, food, host, valets, etc. You should guide the respondent to know what you want them to answer.
  • Be careful with adjective. Use adjectives that are easily understandable. When using gradable adjectives, avoid ones that are ambiguous such as “quite a bit” and “pretty much” on the same scale. It is hard to know which is higher in grading. Use extremes such as “extremely” and “not at all”.
  • Bipolar or unipolar. Bipolar will show you attitudes of respondents on two broader sides i.e. “love” vs. “hate”. On the other hand, unipolar questions have a wider range that shows varied feelings more than just “love” and “hate”.
  • Better to ask. You should ask a question rather than writing a statement. Statements are risky because most people will tend to agree, making the results a little bit subjective. However, if you ask a question, they are likely to answer honestly.

Tips on How to Use Likert Scales

Here are five important tips:

  • Label them to show which side is negative and which is positive
  • Keep it odd to find a midpoint for the survey
  • You should space the responses equally from each other
  • Have an all-inclusive scale that shows an entire range of expected responses
  • Make your survey logical by adding the “skip” button to questions that you want details only if the respondents feel a certain way.



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