Likert Scale Specification

Owned by Neill Magill
Oct 25, 2022

Purpose

Likert Scale questions are used in surveys.  They are used to gather subjective responses to questions and also for OSCE Stations, although these are run as surveys.  There are no right or wrong answers;  the question type records opinions - even if it's an assessor's opinion of a candidate.

When used in a survey the user selects an option on a five-point scale indicating how strongly they agree with an assertion, from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree.

When used in assessments, the assessor records their opinion of the candidate (who are not the same person).

It provides several different kinds of scale:

  • OSCE Station Scales
  • 3 Point  Scale
  • 4 Point Scale
  • 5 Point Scale
  • Custom Scale - the setter provides their own options

Only the first scale, OSCE Stations Scales, is used in assessments.  The rest are used purely for surveys.

Pre-Exam

Two additional factors must be set:

Scale follows this scheme:

  • OSCE Station Scales
    • 0, 1
    • 0, 1, 2
    • Fail, Borderline, Pass
  • 3 Point  Scale
    • Low to High
    • Never to Always
    • Disagree, Neutral, Agree
  • 4 Point Scale
      • Low to High
      • Never to Always
      • Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree
  • 5 Point Scale
    • Low to High
    • Never to Always
    • Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree
    • Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree
    • Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Uncertain, Agree, Strongly Agree
  • Custom Scale - the setter provides their own options

 N/A Column allows users to indicate whether or not an question applies to them.

These attributes are set through the following controls:

In the case of the Custom scale, the user has to list the options that he wishes to display.

 

Completing the Question

The user completes a Likert question by simply indicating their opinion, by clicking on an option.  The graphic shows how the question is presented

Post-Exam

The user's response is simply recorded against the survey.  Likert scale questions do not figure in the score of summative exams.