Likert scale
A Likert scale is a rating scale that measures attitudes by asking people how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of statements, usually on 5 or 7 points from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". It is named after the social scientist Rensis Likert.
How it works
Rensis Likert introduced the approach in 1932. Strictly, the scale is the set of related statements whose answers are combined into one score; each single question is a Likert item. Answers are coded numerically, for example 1 to 5, which turns attitudes into data that can be summed, averaged and compared.
Good practice keeps statements clear and single-barreled, labels every point, and includes a neutral midpoint unless there is a reason to force a choice. Because the points are ordered but the distances between them cannot be assumed equal, analysts often report the distribution or the share who agree, such as the top two boxes, rather than relying on the mean alone.
A worked example
“Rescheduling a delivery online is easy” averages 3.6 on a 5-point scale across 1,000 recipients surveyed by a parcel carrier, which reads as mild approval. The distribution says more. Fifty-eight percent agree or strongly agree, 21 percent disagree and 21 percent sit at the midpoint, so the rescheduling page serves two groups with very different experiences.
Related
Automate this in Pulse
Likert items in a Pulse survey can share one set of labeled points across every statement, which keeps agreement comparable from one statement to the next.