LIKERT SCALE

ORIGIN OF LIKERT SCALE The original idea for the likert scale is found in

Rensis Likert’s 1932 article in Archive of psychology titled “ A technique for the measurement of Attitudes”.

Likert-type or frequency scales use fixed choice response formats and are designed to measure attitudes or opinions

WHAT IS LIKERT SCALE?• It is a psychometric scale commonly

involved in research that employs questionnaires.

• It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research.

• Likert scales are a non-comparative scaling technique and are one-dimensional in nature.

• When responding to a Likert questionnaire item respondents specify their level of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale for a series of statements.

THE FORMAT OF A TYPICAL SEVEN-LEVEL LIKERT ITEM

THE FORMAT OF A TYPICAL FIVE-LEVEL LIKERT ITEM I believe that ecological questions are

the most important issues facing human beings today.

Strongly agree / agree / don’t know

/ disagree / strongly disagree Each of the five (or seven) responses

would have a numerical value which would be used to measure the attitude under investigation.

WHEN TO USE LIKERT SCALES

We can use it to get an overall measurement of a particular topic, opinion, or experience and also collect specific data on contributing factors.

Choose a particular scale (3 point, 5 point, 7 point, etc) and use it as your standard to cut down on potential confusion and fatigue. This will also allow for comparisons within and between your data sets.

ADVANTAGES Likert Scale questions use psychometric

testing to measure beliefs, attitudes and opinion.

Working with quantitative data, it is easy to draw conclusions, reports, results and graphs from the responses.

Likert Scale questions use a scale, & people are not forced to express an either-or opinion, rather it allows them to be neutral.

It is very easy and quick type of survey and it can be sent out through all modes of communication, including even text messages.

LIMITATIONS

They are uni-dimensional, because they only give a certain amount of choices.

Previous questions will have influenced responses to any further questions that have been asked.

Participants may not be completely honest - which may be intentional or unintentional.

CONTD… Participants may base answers on

feelings toward surveyor or subject.

Scale requires a great deal of decision-making.

can take a long time to analyze the data

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