likert
arnold on Oct 05, 2008
Likert Scaling is a psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research. When responding to a Likert questionnaire item, respondents specify their level of agreement to a statement (Definition for Wikipedia).
The first step of Likert Scaling, as in all scaling methods, is to define what exactly it is that you are attempting to measure. Likert is a unidimensional scaling method, so it is assumed that the concept you want to measure is one-dimensional in nature. You next have to create the set of potential scale items. These should be items that can be rated on a 1-to-5 or 1-to-7 Disagree-Agree response scale. Judges should then rate the items to help you select the items you wish to keep. You will then administer the Scale. You will have each respondent rate each item on some response scale. For instance, they could rate each item on a 1-to-5 response scale where: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = undecided, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree. You can typically use more than 5 for a response scale but it is often (but not always) an odd number so there can be an undecided option. The final score for the respondent on the scale is the sum of their ratings for all of the items which is why this is sometimes called a “summated” scale. ( Information from, Crocker and Algina, 1986, p. 76, SocialresearchMethods.Net).
References:
Crocker and Algina, 1986
For an extended explanation please visit:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/scallik.php
