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A Likert scale (/ˈlɪkərt/ LIK-ərt,[1][note 1]) is a psychometric scale named after its inventor, American social psychologist Rensis Likert,[2] which is commonly used in research questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such that the term (or more fully the Likert-type scale) is often used interchangeably with rating scale, although there are other types of rating scales.
Likert distinguished between a scale proper, which emerges from collective responses to a set of items (usually eight or more), and the format in which responses are scored along a range. Technically speaking, a Likert scale refers only to the former.[3][4] The difference between these two concepts has to do with the distinction Likert made between the underlying phenomenon being investigated and the means of capturing variation that points to the underlying phenomenon.[5]
When responding to a Likert item, respondents specify their level of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale for a series of statements. Thus, the range captures the intensity of their feelings for a given item.[6]
A scale can be created as the simple sum or average of questionnaire responses over the set of individual items (questions). In so doing, Likert scaling assumes distances between each choice (answer option) are equal. Many researchers employ a set of such items that are highly correlated (that show high internal consistency) but also that together will capture the full domain under study (which requires less-than perfect correlations). Others hold to a standard by which "All items are assumed to be replications of each other or in other words items are considered to be parallel instruments".[7]: 197 By contrast, modern test theory treats the difficulty of each item (the ICCs) as information to be incorporated in scaling items.[8]
- ^ Wuensch, Karl L. (October 4, 2005). "What is a Likert Scale? and How Do You Pronounce 'Likert?'". East Carolina University. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
- ^ Likert, Rensis (1932). "A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes". Archives of Psychology. 140: 1–55.
- ^ Spector, Paul E (1992). Summated Rating Scale Construction. Sage.
- ^ Derrick, B; White, P (2017). "Comparing Two Samples from an Individual Likert Question". International Journal of Mathematics and Statistics. 18 (3): 1–13.
- ^ Carifio, James; Perla, Rocco (2007). "Ten Common Misunderstandings, Misconceptions, Persistent Myths and Urban Legends about Likert Scales and Likert Response Formats and their Antidotes". Journal of Social Sciences. 3 (3): 106–116. doi:10.3844/jssp.2007.106.116.
- ^ Burns, Alvin; Burns, Ronald (2008). Basic Marketing Research (Second ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education. pp. 245. ISBN 978-0-13-205958-9.
- ^ van Alphen, A.; Halfens, R.; Hasman, A.; Imbos, T. (1994). "Likert or Rasch? Nothing is more applicable than good theory". Journal of Advanced Nursing. 20 (1): 196–201. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2648.1994.20010196.x. PMID 7930122.
- ^ Rusch, Thomas; Lowry, Paul B.; Mair, Patrick; Treiblmaier, Horst (2017). "Breaking free from the limitations of classical test theory: Developing and measuring information systems scales using item response theory" (PDF). Information & Management. 54 (2): 189–203. doi:10.1016/j.im.2016.06.005.
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