The Quick Start Guide on How to Conduct Market Research

Last updated on September 21st, 2023 at 03:09 pm

If there is anything that will help you improve your marketing strategies, it is research. Depending on the type of research you want to carry out, using surveys is one of the ways to get feedback from your customers or understand what people want.

There are different ways of carrying out surveys, it’s either you use interviews or questionnaires. If you are going to use questionnaires, it is usually advisable to use the Likert scale type of questionnaires rather than the “yes or no” system of answers.

The Likert scale works when you are trying to find out people’s perceptions about something. We usually use it when we want to dig deeper into what people feel about a situation. Situations vary from products, services, or conducts within an organization which could include events and seminars.

If you want to find out how you can effectively use the Likert scale, you are on the right blog. We will discuss how you can effectively use the Likert scale and various examples of what it looks like.

The Likert Scale; what is it?

Generally, the Likert scale is used to evaluate people’s assessment of a particular situation. Therefore, it’s usually helpful to find out what people think about a situation.

If you own a business and want to thrive more in the market, it is essential to try and get feedback from your customers. Businesses thrive better when you see things from your customer’s point of view so that you can satisfy them. There is no better way to get customers’ feedback than by undergoing a survey using the Likert scale questionnaire.

A Likert scale is an orderly scale in which a respondent can choose an option that best suits their view about a particular situation. It is helpful in any area of life, including business, career, events, health, sports, and others.

The Likert scale is typically used to measure the respondent’s attitudes towards a question or statement, checking out their degree of agreement with that statement. Usually, to know the extent to which a respondent agrees or disagrees with a situation.

Primarily, a Likert scale will contain the following; “strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, and strongly agree.”

What does the Likert Scale look like?

A Likert scale can contain various scale points. Usually, we have the 5-point Likert scale or the 7-point scale. A Likert scale typically includes some features, which is general for all Likert scales. Let’s check some of them below;

1. Declarative Statement:

The Likert scale contains a declarative statement to which the respondent will reply. It could be a question or statement. For example, in the case of a business that deals with selling chicken, the statement could be like, “I love my crispy.” The respondent will then have to respond with their degree of agreement, varying from “strongly disagree to strongly agree.” The declarative statement is usually made positively or negatively, not in a neutral manner, to get a more definite response.

Another example is when the chicken seller tries to find out how satisfied their customers are with their bowl of chicken. We can have a declarative statement like “Do you feel full whenever you take a bowl of chicken?” The customers can reply with their degree of fulfillment, varying from “strongly displeased, displeased, moderately satisfied, satisfied, and strongly satisfied.”

2. Ordered continuum of response:

All Likert scales contain an ordered continuum of response: the degree of agreement, satisfaction, or interest. Thus, you will find something varying from Strongly disagree to strongly agree or strongly uninterested to strongly interested.

3. Positive-Negative balanced options:

You will notice in all types of Likert scales that it contains a balance of positive and negative options. A 5-point scale has two positive response options and two negative response options with one neutral option.

In recent times, however, the Likert scale has been designed so that you don’t necessarily have to follow the traditional method. It’s usually the case when you measure the degree of frequency, intensity, or quantity. You will end up resulting;

• For quantity: “Not entirely, only a little, some, a lot.”
• For intensity: “mild, moderate, intense or severe.”
• For frequency: you will have “never, sometimes, often, and always.”

Types of Likert Scales

Likert scales are divided into several categories, depending on what you want. There are odd-numbered Likert scales and even-numbered Likert scales.

Examples of odd-numbered Likert scales are the 5-point or 7-point, while the even-numbered Likert scales are those that could be 4-points or 6-point. Usually, the even-numbered Likert scales lack the midpoint that generally supports neutrality.

You may be asking which one is better. It is determined by what you want to accomplish. Even-numbered Likert scales force the respondent to take a stand without being neutral, while the odd-numbered Likert scales will help out whenever the topic is sensitive, allowing people to stand neutral.

There is absolutely no definite rule. It all depends on your purpose, the topic of the questionnaire, what you want to find out in each question, and who your respondents are.

Simple Tips for Setting Up a Likert Scale

• Always remember to provide balanced Positive-Negative options for respondents.

• Ensure your labels are clear and accurate. For example, instead of using “good and very good,” which could become confusing for people, it is preferable to use “good and excellent.”

• Always label the midpoint if you are using an odd-numbered Likert scale.

• Use the same scale throughout the questionnaire. If you change your scale, indicate it using sections to differentiate it from others.

Conclusion

There is no limit to what you can use the Likert scale to find out. If you are a business owner, it’s high time you used this tool to find out all you need to know about what your customers think about your business.

The feedback given by customers is always what you need to move your business forward. A business is all about satisfying the consumers. So when making decisions, it’s good to have performed a survey by checking out their perceptions and attitudes about your product or service.

A Likert scale is a questionnaire survey that goes beyond the normal “yes or no” response. It gives you the opportunity to find results more accurately.