If you need to calculate the percentage or mean of the Likert scale in your research, you have two options. The first is to do these calculations yourself with the help of tools such as Excel and SPSS, etc. and face the problems of time wasting, confusion, and complex calculations. The second option is to use online survey building tools that do this automatically for you and save you from trouble and wasting time.
However, whatever choice you make, in this post we are going to teach you how to convert a Likert scale into a percentage and how to calculate the mean in a Likert scale.
How to calculate the mean in the Likert scale
As you know, Likert scale has different types from 4 to 11, but the most popular Likert scales have the range of 5 and 7. Likert scale options should not necessarily include “completely satisfied” or “completely dissatisfied”, but rather different types of options can be defined in it.
In order to be able to calculate the mean in the Likert scale, it is necessary to give a specific number for each one of the options in your questions and then use the corresponding number of each option to obtain the mean.
Say the question you are asking is: “How satisfied are you with our product?“
Now, to define the options, you must use Likert scale and specify a number next to each option:
- very much
- Much
- Moderately
- Low
- Very low
Now, to calculate the Likert scale mean, it is enough to count the number of responses for each option in your entire research and finally perform a simple mean calculation.
But now suppose you are looking for a faster and easier way to calculate this mean. For this purpose, you must first create your survey on Porsline. For Likert scale question, instead of using a Likert question type, use a multiple-choice question type and send it to your respondents.
After receiving the answers, in the reports section, you can see a table similar to the image below, where the mean of your question along with the mode, median, variance, and percentage have been automatically calculated on porsline, and you will no longer have a problem with calculating these factors manually.
You can also do more calculations by simply entering the results of your Porsline report into SPSS and doing more calculations there.
How to convert Likert scale to a percentage
To calculate the percentage of the Likert scale, you must specify a number to each of the options of your scale. Then calculate the sum of the answers for each option, and finally divide the obtained number by the total number of answers and multiply the result by 100.
For example, say the question you are asking is: “How much do you know in the field of media?“
The items you have specified include these options:
- Very much
- Much
- Moderately
- Low
- Very low
Now you have received the answers to your survey, 40 people have answered this question. 5 people chose the first option, 8 people chose the second option, 10 people chose the third option, 11 people chose the fourth option, and 6 people chose the final option.
To calculate the frequency percentage of the first option, you must divide 5 by 40 and multiply the obtained number by 100. In the end, the frequency of the first option will be 12.5%. In the same order, you can get the percentage of other options as well.
But if you don’t want to do these time-consuming calculations manually, just create your survey with Porsline, use the multiple-choice question type for your Likert scale questions, and at the end view a complete table of all these calculations instantly in the reports section after it has been automatically calculated.
Likert scale and its applications in organizational questionnaires and surveys
Conclusion
Sometimes, the use of online software and modern technologies speeds up work and avoids wasting time and effort. If you want to conduct scientific research in which it is important to obtain the mean and percentage of Likert scale questions, it is better to start creating online surveys with Porsline so that you can obtain its comprehensive reports and analysis at most ease.