Likert Question Best Practices

The Likert scale is a widespread approach for capturing intensity of feeling data in surveys. In a Likert question, respondents choose their level of disagreement or agreement with a statement from a predefined series of scaled options. Well-designed Likert questions exhibit two important traits: symmetry and balance.

• Symmetry: Responses are symmetrical across a central point, with the same number of positive and negative responses. This can include a neutral center, such as on 5-point or 7-point scales, or leave out the neutral option for a forced choice scale (such as a 10-point scale).

• Balance: Responses are equidistant from each other. That is, the distance between each option are the same.

A 7-point Likert question might look something like this:

Example Likert question response anchors (and their Datagame counterparts)

Datagame uses a rating scale question as follow-up feedback in the Prefer! and Word Search Meta games. These are bipolar scales, with left and right anchors, and a configurable scale size. However, they can very much mimic a Likert scale with well-chosen anchors which make the scale intuitive.

The table below shows some common Likert question responses, as well as recommended anchors for a Datagame rating question. As a bonus, the table also shows recommended phrasings for MaxDiff Rankifier most and least questions.

For question phrasings, we recommend customizing the suggested text to better match your study. For example, if the cards in your Prefer! game are representing logos, change the [card] to logo.

Likert Question Response Anchors

Acceptability | Agreement | Appropriateness | Attraction / Detraction | Beliefs | Clarity | Concern | Describes Me | Desirability | Difficulty | Effectiveness | Familiarity | Happiness | Importance | Influence | Likelihood | Expectations | Priority | Purchase Likelihood | Quality | Satisfaction | Speed | Strength | Support / Oppose | Usefulness

Attribute	Likert question response options	Rating question	Anchors	MaxDiff "most" and "least" questions
Attribute	Likert question response options	Rating question	Anchors	MaxDiff "most" and "least" questions
Acceptability	Totally unacceptable Unacceptable Slightly unacceptable Neutral Slightly acceptable Acceptable Perfectly Acceptable	How acceptable is this [card]?	Perfectly Acceptable Totally unacceptable	Which [card] is most acceptable? Which [card] is least acceptable?
Agreement	Strongly disagree Disagree Somewhat disagree Neither agree or disagree Somewhat agree Agree Strongly agree	How strongly do you agree or disagree with this [card]?	Strongly agree Strongly disagree	Which [card] do you agree with the most? Which [card] do you agree with the least?
Appropriateness	Absolutely inappropriate Inappropriate Slightly inappropriate Neutral Slightly appropriate Appropriate Absolutely appropriate	How appropriate is this [card]?	Absolutely appropriate Absolutely inappropriate	Which [card] is most appropriate? Which [card] is least appropriate?
Attraction / Detraction	Detracted very much Detracted some Detracted very little Neither attracted nor detracted Attracted very little Attracted some Attracted very much	How much dd this [card] attract or detract you?	Attracted very much Detracted very much	Which [card] attracts you the most? Which [card] detracts you the most?
Beliefs	Very untrue of what I believe Untrue of what I believe Somewhat untrue of what I believe Neutral Somewhat true of what I believe True of what I believe Very true of what I believe	How accurately does this [card] describe your beliefs?	Very true of what I believe Very untrue of what I believe	Which [card] is the most like how you believe? Which [card] is the least like how you believe?
Clarity	Extremely unclear Somewhat unclear Slightly unclear Neither clear nor unclear Slightly clear Somewhat clear Extremely clear	How clear is [card]?	Extremely clear Extremely unclear	Which [card] is the most clear? Which [card] is the least clear?
Concern	Not at all concerned Slightly concerned Somewhat concerned Moderately concerned Extremely concerned	How concerned are you about this [card]?	Not at all concerned Extremely concerned	Which [card] are you most concerned about? Which [card] are you least concerned about?
Describes Me	Very untrue of me Untrue of me Somewhat untrue of me Neutral Somewhat true of me True of me Very true of me	How accurately does this [card] describe you?	Very true of me Very untrue of me	Which [card] is the most true about yourself? Which [card] is the least true about yourself?
Desirability	Very undesirable Undesirable Neutral Desirable Very desirable	How desirable is this [card]?	Very desirable Very undesirable	Which [card] is most desirable? Which [card] is least desirable?
Difficulty	Very difficult Difficult Neither easy nor hard Easy Very easy	How difficult is this [card]?	Very easy Very difficult	Which [card] is most difficult? Which [card] is least difficult?
Effectiveness	Not effective at all Slightly effective Somewhat effective Very effective Extremely effective	How effective is this [card]?	Extremely effective Not at all effective	Which [card] is most effective? Which [card] is least effective?
Familiarity	Not at all familiar Slightly familiar Somewhat familiar Moderately familiar Extremely familiar	How familiar are you with this [card]?	Extremely familiar Not at all familiar	Which [card] is most familiar? Which [card] is least familiar?
Happiness	Extremely unhappy Somewhat unhappy Slightly unhappy Neither happy nor unhappy Slightly happy Somewhat happy Extremely happy	How happy are you with this [card]?	Extremely happy Extremely unhappy	Which [card] makes you the most happy? Which [card] makes you the least happy?
Importance	Not at all important Low importance Slightly unimportant Neither important nor unimportant Moderately important Very important Extremely important	How important is this [card]?	Extremely important Not at all important	Which [card] is most important? Which [card] is least important?
Influence	Not at all influential Slightly influential Somewhat influential Very influential Extremely influential	How influential is this [card]?	Extremely influential Not at all influential	Which [card] is most influential? Which [card] is least influential?
Likelihood	Extremely unlikely Unlikely Neither likely nor unlikely Likely Extremely likely	How likely are you to [use] this card?	Extremely likely Extremely unlikely	Which [card] are you most likely to [use]? Which [card] are you least likely to [use]?
Expectations	Far short of expectations Short of expectations Meets expectations Exceeds expectations Far exceeds expectations	How well does [card] meet expectations?	Far exceeds expectations Far short of expectations	Which [card] meets or exceeds expectations the most? Which [card] meets or exceeds expectations the least?
Priority	Not a priority Low priority Medium priority High priority Essential priority	How would you prioritize this [card]?	Essential priority Not a priority	Which [card] is the most essential? Which [card] is the least essential?
Purchase Likelihood	Definitely will not purchase Probably will not purchase Might purchase Probably will purchase Definitely will purchase	How likely are you to purchase this [card]?	Definitely will purchase Definitely will not purchase	Which [card] are you most likely to purchase? Which [card] are you least likely to purchase?
Quality	Terrible Very poor Poor Average Good Very good Excellent	How would you rate the quality of [card]?	Excellent Terrible	Which [card] is the best? Which [card] is the worst?
Satisfaction	Completely dissatisfied Mostly dissatisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Neither satisfied or dissatisfied Somewhat satisfied Mostly satisfied Completely satisfied	How satisfied are you with this [card]?	Very satisfied Very dissatisfied	Which [card] are you more satisfied about? Which [card] are you least satisfied about?
Speed	Extremely slow Moderately slow A little slow Average A little fast Moderately fast Very fast	How fast or slow is this [card]?	Very fast Very slow	Which [card] is fastest? Which [card] is slowest?
Strength	Very weak Somewhat weak Slightly weak Neither strong nor weak Slightly strong Somewhat strong Very strong	How strong is [card]?	Very strong Very weak	Which [card] is the strongest? Which [card] is the weakest?
Support / Oppose	Strongly oppose Somewhat oppose Neither favor nor oppose Somewhat favor Strongly favor	How strongly do you favor or oppose this [card]?	Strongly favor Strongly oppose	Which [card] do you favor the most? Which [card] do you oppose the most?
Usefulness	Extremely useless Somewhat useless Slightly useless Neither useful nor useless Slightly useful Somewhat useful Extremely useful	How useful is [card]?	Extremely useful Not at all useful	Which [card] is most useful? Which [card] is least useful?