The Likert scale is well known as a form of response when conducting user surveys about a product, service or user experience.
Depending on the situation, it may work better, worse, or not at all. Implementing this type of scale as a response is a good way to get to know your users or customers.
What is the Likert scale
The Likert scale is a research technique or method that helps us measure the opinion of a user or client on a specific issue through a survey or questionnaire.
This method was created by Rensis Likert, a psychologist, in the 1930s. It consists of allowing users to select among multiple answers to a question with some ease.
We often measure user attitudes, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors using this rating scale. Generally, this type of question consists of 5 response options: 2 negative options, 1 neutral option and 2 positive options.
When to use the Likert scale
The Likert scale can be used to ask users about the usability of a digital product, their opinions about the product or features, about the company or organization, its services, etc.
These types of questions are really useful when you want to delve into a specific topic in order to find out what people think about it.
This type of method is very interesting in order not to ask too long questions that make it difficult for the participating users to answer them.
How to use the Likert scale
The questions must be precise, concise and correctly formulated to avoid possible confusion and increase effectiveness. The more specific the question statements, the more likely you are to get valuable answers.
The adjectives used for the answers are, equally or more, important than the question itself. Be concise and without generating doubts about which adjective is superior or inferior with respect to the next or the previous one.
It is essential to offer multiple choice and gradual response. That is, they go from positive to negative or from negative to positive. Always, bearing in mind that the most used method is the 5-response method (2 negative, 1 neutral and 2 positive).
An example of a statement or question is the following: How do you rate the design of our website? and as possible answers: Terrible, Bad, Regular, Good, Excellent.
The answers can be in text format or also use a visual scale. Emojis are usually used that represent each degree of response by means of different faces. On this same website, since its launch, this method has been used so that you can assess the experience with it.
Choose correctly between bipolar and unipolar scale:
- Bipolar: It is when among the answers you find the options to respond positively or negatively and you have a neutral option.
- Unipolar: It is when the answers are either all positive or all negative.
Likert versus semantic differential
The differential semantic question was introduced by Osgood, Suci and Tennenbaum in 1957 and is one of the most used together with Likert when conducting surveys.
These types of questions offer the user participants in the survey the possibility of qualifying what they think on a bipolar adjective scale.
Both ends of the scale contain antonym adjectives. The data obtained from this type of question method are only reliable if these assumptions are met:
- Antonym adjectives are really bipolar. Sometimes it is difficult to find terms that represent this assumption correctly.
- Participating users are able to understand what the intermediate options mean.
Regarding the limitations of both, it should be noted that the Likert scale may be affected by semantic central and differential response bias requires a greater cognitive demand to respond since the central options are not labeled.
Like all user research, this must be completed with and to collect data and obtain quantitative and qualitative information.
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