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Examples of Effective Likert Scale Questions to Use in Surveys

Discover the best Likert scale examples and templates for your next survey. Use the most reliable rating scale to measure opinions and feedback.

Written by

Ngoc Le

She was a market research writer and long-time contributor to TGM. Her insights focus on making market data accessible and actionable for global audiences.

Conducting a survey? Likert-style questions are a popular way to gauge respondents' attitudes, perceptions, and opinions. But coming up with properly worded Likert items can be tricky.

This comprehensive guide provides a wide variety of tried-and-tested Likert scale examples you can reference to create better surveys.

Introduction to Likert Scale Questions

A Likert scale presents respondents with a declarative statement. They then indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale.

Likert scales add nuance beyond a simple yes/no dichotomous response, capturing the intensity of sentiment. This provides richer attitudinal data.

The following are some best practices when formatting Likert survey questions:

Use 5 to 7 response options
Balance both positive and negative/reversed statements
Maintain consistency in scale direction and order
Avoid complex vocabulary that confuses

Agree-Disagree Likert Scale

Agree-disagree scales are the standard format. Here are examples using various degrees of agreement:

Strongly agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, Strongly disagree
Agree very strongly, Agree strongly, Agree, Disagree, Disagree Strongly
Completely agree, Mostly agree, Slightly agree, Slightly disagree, Mostly disagree, Completely disagree

Value Likert Scale Examples

Value scales assess levels of perceived value, usefulness, or worth:

High, Moderate, Low, None
Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor

Frequency Likert Scale Examples

This gauges how recurrent something is:

Never, Rarely, Occasionally, Sometimes, Frequently
Always, Very often, About half the time, Rarely, Never

Importance Likert Scale Examples

Importance scales evaluate degrees of perceived significance. For example:

Very important, Moderately important, Slightly important, Not important
Extremely important, Very important, Moderately important, Slightly important, Not at all important

Quality Likert Scale Examples

These assess perceived quality using descriptors like:

Very good, Good, Average, Poor, Very Poor
Excellent, Above average, Average, Below average, Poor

Likelihood/Probability Likert Scale Examples

These quantify the perceived chance of something occurring, e.g.:

Very likely, Likely, Neutral, Unlikely, Very Unlikely
Definitely, Probably, Possibly, Probably not, Definitely not

Dichotomous Agree/Disagree Likert Scale Examples

Dichotomous scales provide a simple binary choice, which works well for certain scenarios:

Agree, Disagree
Yes, No
True, False

Three-Point Likert Scale Examples

Three-point scales offer a middle neutral option:

Good, Average, Poor
Correct, Undecided/Unsure, Incorrect
Too much, Just right, Too Little

Putting Likert Scale Examples into Practice

With these handy Likert scale examples for reference across a variety of formats, you can now start to develop well-constructed Likert questions for your next survey. Just match the appropriate response scale type to your information needs.

And don't forget to balance your questions with both positive and reversed/negative phrasing. This will optimize the validity of your Likert scale in assessing true respondent attitudes. So now you're ready to create a quality survey as you embark on your research project.

Exporing TGM Services to develop high-quality surveys that can improve the quality or reliability of your research outcomes.

As the leading online data collection agency, TGM Research conducted multiple market research projects across the regions. To discover more about our research practices and methodologies reach out to us.

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