likertskala

LikertSkala, commonly known as the Likert scale, is a psychometric rating scale used to measure attitudes, opinions, or perceptions. It presents respondents with a statement and asks them to indicate their level of agreement on a symmetric, multi-point scale, typically five or seven options such as strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree. Developed by Rensis Likert in 1932, the method is widely used in social science, marketing, and organizational research. Individual item responses are ordinarily treated as ordinal data and may be summed to create a composite score representing an underlying attitude or construct, though decisions about treating summed scores as interval data vary.

Design features influence results: the number of points, balance or imbalance of anchors, and the use of reverse-worded items to reduce acquiescence bias. Items should be clearly worded and mutually exclusive, and questionnaires may include multiple items to measure the same construct. Reliability (e.g., internal consistency) and validity are assessed at the scale level rather than for a single item.

Limitations include potential response biases, the assumption of equal interval distance between points, and cultural differences in interpretation. Analysts often use non-parametric tests for item data or treat summed scores as approximately interval for parametric analyses, with caution and justification. The LikertSkala remains a simple, efficient tool for gauging attitudes, though it is most informative when combined with other measures and careful questionnaire design.