The Likert scale is a measure of a person’s attitudes, beliefs, or opinions about some object or event. It is perhaps the most widely used scale in survey research. The traditional Likert scale consists of a set of declarative statements, each followed by a series of ordered response options that measure the extent to which a person agrees or disagrees with the statement. A single statement in [Page 1555]the set is called a Likert item; the set of statements together form a Likert scale. Participants’ responses to items in the scale are typically summed to create a more reliable and accurate measure of their overall attitude toward an object than could be obtained by an individual item.

This entry provides an overview of ...