At some point, after visiting a new restaurant, making an online purchase or haggling with customer service on the phone, an email asking for feedback follows:
How satisfied are you with the service you recently received?
- Very satisfied
- Moderately satisfied
- Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
- Moderately dissatisfied
- Very dissatisfied
The rating system in this question is referred to as a Likert scale, and it was created by Rensis Likert, a U-M alum, groundbreaking researcher and co-founder of the university’s Institute for Social Research.
Likert scales have been used in research surveys in a wide variety of industries, from academics to the government to private research. The scales seek to qualify opinions, attitudes and experiences of respondents by assessing the extent to which they agree, disagree or feel neutral about a statement or question.
The scale was first developed when Likert was working toward a Ph.D. at Columbia University in the 1920s. While the scale was a relatively simple concept, it became highly influential in the midcentury and is still the foundation of most modern survey research.
During World War II, Likert worked as director of the Division of Program Surveys for the U.S. government, where his surveys were used to help gauge public reactions to issues ranging from New Deal programming to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
After the war, Likert, along with several colleagues from the Division of Program Surveys, came to Ann Arbor to continue their research at U-M. They formed the Survey Research Center in 1946, which led to the formation of the ISR three years later.
One of Likert’s well-known “wins” at U-M was accurately forecasting the 1948 presidential election. Nearly every other poll had Thomas Dewey defeating Harry Truman. But the probability sampling Likert and his team used to study the race predicted Truman would be victorious.
Likert directed the ISR until 1970, then, in retirement, moved to Hawaii, where he continued to write and do research. He died in 1981 in Ann Arbor and is buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery.
