Likert Scale Definition Example Compare 5 7 Point Scale

Likert Scale Definition

Likert Scale is a 5 or 7 point scale used to allow individuals to express how much they agree or disagree with a particular statement. It is a set of statements offered for real or hypothetical situations under study. Individuals are asked a specific set of questions on a metric scale where they show their level of agreement from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Here all the statements should be interlinked so that all statements in combination should lead to a specific outcome. However, they shouldn’t diverge from the common dimension.

Likert Scale in Detail

You get framed questions with pre-judgment, all leading to a common dimension.It states how much people agree or disagree with a particular statement.You get a range of options from where you can choose.There is an option to choose ‘neutral’ as a response.Individuals have to choose within the specified option, so at times, individuals’ real opinions are not shared.If you just ask a question for a survey, then it may happen that the individual didn’t listen to your question properly and just gave an answer which makes it unreliable. So the Likert scale increases the reliability factor by asking dependent questions to the same person simultaneously.

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Example of 5 Point Likert Scale

In this example, suppose Mr. X wants to open a broking firm. He wants to do a survey and see who all like to trade. Construct a questionnaire for a 5 Point Likert scale survey and explain the post-survey result.

Solution:

The most important part of this survey is to set up the right statements.Each statement should lead to the common dimension of individuals either liking or disliking trading.Statements shouldn’t be off-track, and they should cover the common dimension in totality.

Construction of Statements:

I like the stock market.I like stocks.I like money.I like the returns.

If you see the questions carefully, you will feel that if a person says that he likes the stock market, he can’t say that he hates stocks. So just by seeing the answer to the first statement, you can predict the answers to the rest of the statements. In addition, all the statements are interconnected, which increases the reliability factor.

The reliability factor of a survey is the factor that states how much the survey is fruitful and throws the correct picture or not. For example, suppose you see that an individual has chosen to like Stock marketsStock MarketsStock Market works on the basic principle of matching supply and demand through an auction process where investors are willing to pay a certain amount for an asset, and they are willing to sell off something they have at a specific price.read more but hates stocks. In that case, it means that the person has not read the statements properly before answering, so his answers will not be included in the final counting. Therefore, the reliability factor is increased in the Likert scale survey.

Now we will have to attach options to the statements. For example, in the 5 Point Likert Scale, we will be attaching five options with a “neutral” option.

So the Options will be:

Strongly agreeAgreeNeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree

Now we will have to attach a numeric to each option.

Say ‘Strongly agree’ is 1, ‘Agree’ is 2, ‘Neutral’ is 3, ‘Disagree’ is 4, and ‘Strongly disagree’ is 5.

So from the above chart, you can see that if an individual strongly agrees to all statements, the total score will be four because ‘strongly agree’ is number ‘1. Similarly, if he just ‘agrees’ to two statements and ‘strongly agrees’ to the other two, his total score will be (1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 6).

Now, we have taken a survey of 120 individuals. Out of 120, you see that 20 surveys are unreliable, so you remove 20 surveys. Not reliable means that they have selected ‘strongly agree’ in one statement and ‘strongly disagree’ in another statement

Now out of 100 surveys, if the total score is more than (12 * 100) = 1200, then it means that people generally don’t like trading in this particular market. 12 is the midpoint. It is the total score if a person chooses Neutral in all its statements.

So out of 100 Surveys, the midpoint should be (12 * 100) = 1200. If the total score of the survey is less than 1200, then Mr. X should open a trading firm as most people strongly or agreeably like trading. So we are clubbing opinions to generate a composite score and make decisions accordingly.

What is the 7 Point Likert Scale and its Comparison with 5 Point?

7 Point Likert scale provides more varieties of options, which increases the probability of meeting the objective reality of people. If a person has an opinion about liking ‘stock markets’ that doesn’t fall under ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree,’ he is forced to choose between these two opinions, as there are no other options in the 5 Point Likert Scale.

In the 7 Point Scale, the opinions are further divided to meet the actual sentiment of the individuals. Maybe they will add another opinion along with ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree ‘slightly agree.’

So the 7 point Likert scale is the same as the 5 point scale, but the opinion options are more in the case of the 7 points Likert scale. As a 7 point scale reveals more description of the motif and thus appeals practically to the “faculty of reason.”

Conclusion

The Likert Scale is an important way by which we can objectify an opinion and make decisions accordingly. It is widely used in market research, where new markets are surveyed and analyzed for new products or business launches.