When to use it
- You’re measuring agreement, attitude, or sentiment toward a statement.
- You want a balanced scale respondents already understand at a glance.
- You’re running a battery of attitude statements you’ll compare to each other.
- You need a standard format that benchmarks against prior waves or norms.
When to reach for something else
- The answer is a frequency or amount, not an opinion — use a rating scale.
- The statement is double-barreled — split it into two clean statements.
- You’re asking for a category or a choice — use multiple choice.
Sample question
“How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “The onboarding process was easy to follow.””
Best practices
- Keep the scale symmetric — equal agree and disagree points around the middle.
- Write one idea per statement; kill double-barreled wording.
- Balance positively and negatively worded statements to counter acquiescence bias.
- Label every point when you can, so the steps read as evenly spaced.
- Decide whether a neutral midpoint is a real answer for your topic.
Data & reporting
Each statement stores the chosen agreement level. A battery of statements is presented and stored as a grid — one row per statement — and exports as row=value pairs. Reports show the distribution across agreement levels for each statement, so you can compare which statements skew agree vs. disagree.
Accessibility
Each statement is an accessible, labeled radio group; respondents move between points with the arrow keys, and the statement text plus the chosen level are announced together so the scale reads correctly aloud.
Compared to SurveyMonkey
Both support agree–disagree batteries; Surveti keeps the per-statement distributions and crosstabs in the same workspace, so comparing statements across segments doesn’t mean an export.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between a Likert scale and a rating scale?
A Likert scale is specifically a symmetric agree–disagree scale applied to a statement. A rating scale is a more general numeric measure of intensity — satisfaction, likelihood, quality. Likert is a specialized, balanced form of rating.
How many points should a Likert scale have?
Five and seven points are the most common. Five is quick and fully labelable; seven captures finer nuance. Keep it symmetric so agreement and disagreement have equal room.
Should I mix positive and negative statements?
Yes — balancing positively and negatively worded statements helps catch acquiescence bias, where respondents agree by habit. Just remember to reverse-code the negatives when you analyze.