Likert Scale



Psychology Originated by the American psychologist R A Likert (1903–81).

A technique for measuring attitudes. Likerts’s scale consists of a series of statements to which a respondant must answer. The Likert five-point scale is normally as follows; strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree. The data gained through Likerts’ scale is easily amenable to factor analysis and has proved this scaling preferable to Thurstone’s. There are two modified versions of the scale, one for the illiterate and one with no neutral category. See THURSTONE’S LAW OF COMPARATIVE IUDGMENT.

R A Likert, ‘Techniques for the Measurement of Attitudes’, Archives of Psychology, vol. CXL (1932), 1–55

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