Mastering SurveyMonkey: Crafting Likert Scale Questions

Creating a Likert scale question in SurveyMonkey is an effective way to gather detailed data from respondents. Likert scales allow you to measure attitudes, opinions, or experiences, providing richer insights than simple 'Yes' or 'No' questions. Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a Likert scale question in SurveyMonkey.

Before diving into the steps, it's crucial to understand that a well-crafted Likert scale question starts with clear objectives. Know what you want to measure and how you'll interpret the responses. With that in mind, let's explore the process of creating a Likert scale question.

Creating a New Likert Scale Question

Once you're in the SurveyMonkey platform, creating a new Likert scale question involves several simple steps.

First, navigate to the page where you want to add the question. Then, click on the 'Add New Question' button. A drop-down menu will appear, offering various question types. Select 'Likert Scale' from the list.

Setting Up the Question Stem

The question stem is the statement or question that respondents will react to. It should be clear and concise, ensuring respondents understand what you're asking. Here, you can add up to 1,000 characters, including spaces.

For example, you might ask: "How satisfied are you with our customer service?"

Defining the Response Options

Next, you'll define the response options - the scale respondents will use to answer your question. SurveyMonkey offers a range of presets, or you can create your own. Here, you can set the number of points (from 2 to 10) and the corresponding labels.

For a satisfaction survey, common response options include 'Very unsatisfied', 'Moderately unsatisfied', 'Neutral', 'Moderately satisfied', and 'Very satisfied'. Ensure the scale is balanced, with an equal number of positive and negative options if possible.

Configuring Additional Settings

SurveyMonkey offers several additional settings to customize your Likert scale question further. These include:

• Required: Make the question mandatory for respondents to complete the survey.
• Question Number: Change the question's number as it appears in the survey.
• Question Text: Add a Primer or a Follow-up Explanation to clarify the question further.
• Theme: Choose a theme to match the rest of your survey's design.

Adjust these settings as needed to fit your survey's requirements.

Analyzing and Interpreting Likert Scale Responses

Once you've collected responses, understanding how to interpret Likert scale data is crucial. Since Likert scales are ordinal data, you can calculate descriptive statistics, such as mode, median, and mean, to summarize responses. However, remember that these statistics are less meaningful when dealing with opinion or attitude data.

Instead, focus on the distribution of responses to identify patterns and trends. You can also create a 'Top 2 Box' or 'Bottom 2 Box' score, which combines the highest or lowest scoring options to represent satisfaction levels.

Visualizing Likert Scale Data

To communicate your survey findings effectively, visualizations can greatly aid. Bar charts or stacked bar charts are ideal for representing Likert scale data. These visualizations allow respondents to see the distribution of answers clearly and can help identify trends.

For example, a stacked bar chart can display the percentage of respondents who chose each answer option, making it easy to see the most and least popular responses.

Creating and analyzing Likert scale questions in SurveyMonkey can provide valuable insights into your respondents' opinions and attitudes. With a clear objective, well-crafted question, and effective interpretation, Likert scales can help you make informed decisions based on robust data.