How to Create a Likert Scale Survey

A Likert scale survey is an effective way to gauge your employee’s attitude to their work, training, office, or other work-related subjects. In this article, we’ll show you how to create an online Likert scale survey fast and hassle free, but first, let’s see what it is and where it came from.

What Is a Likert Scale Survey?

Rensis Likert was a social psychologist. In his thesis, he developed a special scale that lets you choose between more than 2 answers. A quiz with such a scale is called a Likert scale survey. Let’s see the difference between these questions and binary ones.

Binary questions like “yes/no” or “good/bad” don’t let you see all the semitones between “poor” and “excellent.”

The Likert scale survey does. On average, it offers 5 answers to 1 question. The answers cover a range of different attitudes, from very negative to very positive.

Depending on the topic of a survey, answers can reflect the level of satisfaction, quality, happiness, difficulty, probability, or agreement.

A Step-by-Step Walkthrough on Building a Likert Scale Survey

How do you create a Likert scale survey? Let’s do it step by step with iSpring QuizMaker. This is a tool that helps to create graded and ungraded quizzes with 14 types of questions, including engaging drag-and-drops and hotspots. 

1. Download the iSpring QuizMaker free trial and install it on your computer.
2. Open the app. In the Quick Start window, you’ll see two options: Graded Quizzes and Survey. Choose Survey.
3. Click the Question button on the toolbar and choose Likert Scale.
4. Type in your questions and statements.Note: If you need fewer statements, just delete those that are not necessary. And if you need more, type each below the last line.
5. Choose the type of scale you need.
6. Now look at the right portion of the screen. Here you can change options for your scale. Click Flip scale if you want answers to go in the opposite gradation. And click Show number instead of name if you need numeric answers.
7. Okay, now you’re ready to publish your quiz. Click on Publish and select where you want to export your quiz: to your computer, your LMS, or iSpring Learn LMS.

Congratulations! You’ve created your first Likert scale survey.

Tips to Make Your Likert Scale Survey More Effective

A Likert scale survey is a tool, and as with any tool, you need some experience to use it effectively. Let us give you a few practical tips.

Focus on one topic

The survey results will be more accurate if there are at least several statements or questions and all of them relate to the same topic. For example, you’ve created an e-course and you want to know what your employees think about it. Instead of asking them just “How did you like this e-course?” and then moving on to the next topic, try asking them a set of questions.

• Did the training content meet your expectations?
• Did you learn anything new? 
• How would you rate the quality of the training?
• Do you find this training useful?

In this way, the final score you get will provide an assessment from different questions and the results will be more reliable.

Be specific

Instead of asking your employees “How satisfied are you by the office?” – since such a question refers to many factors – try to ask something specific, like:

• How do you like your workplace?
• How do you like the coffee?
• Do you enjoy flowers in the office?
• How comfortable is the temperature for you?
• Last week, new rules were introduced in the office. What is your opinion about them?

The more specific your question is, the more accurate and valuable data you will get.

Use questions

Statements are too forceful. There is the acquiescence response bias phenomenon, meaning that people tend to agree with statements. So, if you want to find out what your employees really think about something, use questions. For example, instead of saying “You’re satisfied with the cleanliness of the premises,” try “How satisfied are you with the cleanliness of the premises?”

Conclusion

Well, now you know how to create a Likert scale survey and make it more effective. If you haven’t downloaded the iSpring QuizMaker free trial yet, do that and start making great quizzes right away! And if you’re interested in training your employees online, check out this guide on how to make an online course. Good luck!