<p>I did eventually find something which may be what I was thinking of, examining the normality &amp; psychometric properties of Likert scales with differing numbers of points.  They concluded that the 11-point scale was closest to interval-type data in scaling and normality.</p>

<p>Reference: <br>
A comparison of psychometric properties and normality in 4-, 5-, 6-, and 11-point Likert scales. Leung, Shing-On. Journal of Social Service Research37.4 (Jul 2011): 412-421. <a href="http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.tufts.edu/10.1080/01488376.2011.580697">http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.tufts.edu/10.1080/01488376.2011.580697</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-03T18:25:23.817Z
2013-09-03T18:25:23.817Z
Krysta
<p>I seem to recall a recent paper investigating whether ratings created using Likert or Visual Analogue Scales formats had the cognitive properties of interval or ratio data (since they are generally analysed as such).</p>

<p>I think a central question was whether, for example, participants understood the difference between a 2 and a 3 to be the same as the difference between 5 and 6, but I can't find it!  Does this ring bells for anybody?</p>

<reference-request><measurement><statistics>
What paper discussed the cognitive properties of Likert/visual analogue scales in ratings?
Krysta
# What paper discussed the cognitive properties of Likert/visual analogue scales in ratings?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-07-25)

I seem to recall a recent paper investigating whether ratings created using Likert or Visual Analogue Scales formats had the cognitive properties of interval or ratio data (since they are generally analysed as such).

I think a central question was whether, for example, participants understood the difference between a 2 and a 3 to be the same as the difference between 5 and 6, but I can't find it! Does this ring bells for anybody?

**Tags:** reference-request, measurement, statistics


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2013-09-03. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

I did eventually find something which may be what I was thinking of, examining the normality & psychometric properties of Likert scales with differing numbers of points. They concluded that the 11-point scale was closest to interval-type data in scaling and normality.

Reference:   
A comparison of psychometric properties and normality in 4-, 5-, 6-, and 11-point Likert scales. Leung, Shing-On. Journal of Social Service Research37.4 (Jul 2011): 412-421. <http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.tufts.edu/10.1080/01488376.2011.580697>


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