Should I use a 5 point or 7-point Likert scale?

Use 7 Points for New Scales If you are designing a new scale and need to decide on the number of response options having 7 will likely give you a small benefit over five. This benefit will likely only be realized if you have fewer response items (less than 10) and you use very large sample sizes.

What is the 7 point Likert scale for importance?

estimated the importance using a 7 point likert scale (three points on the scale were labelled: 1 = unimportant, 4 = moderately important, 7 = very important). The estimates of the relative importance of the squares are shown in Table 2. ...

What is the best number of points on a Likert scale?

Summary: Researchers often tweak the number of response options in the traditional five-point Likert Scale with little empirical justification for doing so. Now a psychologist has tested the test. Leonard Simms says 'six appears to be the magic number' of responses.

What is the best Likert scale to use?

Most researchers agree that, at a minimum, you should use a 5-point Likert scale survey. But other research shows that the more choices there are, the less often respondents use the middle or neutral category.

Why do researchers use 5-point Likert scale?

The 5-point Likert Scale is easily understood by the respondents. It is ideal to evaluate the results of a large sample of respondents. Giving five different options to choose from increases the response rate.

Differences Between 5-Point Likert Scale and 7-Point Likert Scale | 5-Point and 7-Point Likert Scale

Why is a 5-point Likert scale better than 7?

5-point vs 7-point: The head-to-head comparison

While they're both ideal for larger sample sizes, the 5-point scale helps both researchers and respondents get straight to the point. It offers a variety of choices while ensuring easy comprehension and usability, and it delivers valuable information.

What are the problems with 5-point Likert scales?

Unequal responses – responses may not have a measurable or equal distance between them. Therefore, it may not be easy to rank the answers you receive. For example, if you have responses that include always, regularly, sometimes, or not at all, the distance between each of these responses is not equal or measurable.

Why is a 5 point Likert scale better than a 3 point?

Five-point scales are then better theoretically because they provide three pieces of information: direction (positive/negative), intensity of opinion, and a neutral point.

What is the difference between 5 and 7 Likert scale?

Seven-point Likert scales appear to be more suited to electronic distribution of usability inventories. Finstad, K. (2010). Research confirms that data from Likert items (and those with similar rating scales) becomes significantly less accurate when the number of scale points drops below five or above seven.

Can a Likert scale have 7 points?

So what is a Likert scale survey question? It's a question that uses a 5 or 7-point scale, sometimes referred to as a satisfaction scale, that ranges from one extreme attitude to another. Typically, the Likert survey question includes a moderate or neutral option in its scale.

Should I use a 4 point or 5 point Likert scale?

A 4 point Likert scale is observed to distort the results. A 5 point Likert scale data is more accurate than the 4 point data. Respondents might not answer at all. In many cases, it is preferable to know that they were neutral rather than having them not answer the question at all.

What type of data is a 7-point Likert scale?

Developed in 1932 by Rensis Likert¹ to measure attitudes, the typical Likert scale is a 5- or 7-point ordinal scale used by respondents to rate the degree to which they agree or disagree with a statement (table).

How do you use a 7-point scale?

Some likert scales use a seven-point likert scale with 1 being 'Strongly Agree' and 7 being 'Strongly disagree' (or reversed). In the middle, a neutral statement like 'neither agree nor disagree'.

What is the 7-point Likert scale for severity?

Methods: The Global Overall Symptom scale uses a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = no problem to 7 = a very severe problem.

How do you convert a 7 point Likert scale to a 5 point scale?

If you just want to convert the scale scored 1-7 into one scored 1-5, while retaining all the original information in the 7-point scale, you coud recode as follows: 1 --> 1.0, 2 --> 1.667, 3 --> 2.333, 4 --> 3.0, 5 --> 3.667, 6 --> 4.333, 7 --> 5.0.

Why is a 5 point scale better than a 10 point scale?

Results: The five-point scale produced data with unimodal and fairly symmetric distributions in contrast to the highly skewed J- and U-shaped distributions for the 10-point scale. The five-point scale data had significantly lower item means, floor, and ceiling effects.

Why is a 5 point scale better than a 4 point scale?

When a 5 point Likert scale is used, there is the tendency for some respondents to select a 'neutral' or 'not sure' response to avoid making a real choice. However, with the 4 point scale, respondents are 'forced' to choose between favourable and unfavourable responses to each questionnaire item.

Is it acceptable to use different point Likert scales in a survey?

Keep it as it is, no problem if you use different point scales. It depends on the nature and the features of each question. Consider it from the perspective of the respondents. If the Likert scale is not consistent there should be a reason for that in your research purpose.

Why is the Likert scale controversial?

Deciding which descriptive and inferential statistics may legitimately be used to describe and analyze the data obtained from a Likert scale is a controversial issue. Treating Likert-derived data as ordinal, the median or mode generally is used as the measure of central tendency.

What is an example of a 5 point Likert scale for satisfaction?

5-Point Likert Scale

This is the most common type of Likert scale. It is frequently used to measure satisfaction or agreement. For example, “Express your satisfaction level with our products.” Respondents would choose from five options ranging from “Highly Satisfied” to “Highly Dissatisfied.”

What is the 5 point Likert scale from poor to excellent?

Quality: Poor – Fair – Good – Very good – Excellent. Likelihood: Extremely Unlikely – Unlikely – Neutral – Likely – Extremely Likely.

What is a 7 point scale called?

Some likert scales use a seven-point likert scale with 1 being 'Strongly Agree' and 7 being 'Strongly disagree' (or reversed). In the middle, a neutral statement like 'neither agree nor disagree'.