How to Analyze Likert Scale Data in Google Sheets & Excel

There is a hard way to get things done. And then there is a simple way.

We have a friend that loves to go through physical stress to get things done. We suppose it makes her feel like she has worked hard to get results. We, on the other hand, prefer to work less and get more results.

That is mostly the reason why we love the online space. People can make money in the comfort of their homes. People can reach friends who are miles away with the click of a button. Huge deals are closed online without stress.There is online banking and vast amounts of information.

It’s a great time to be alive.

You can get more done with less. The hard way is excruciatingly long, energy-consuming, and time-wasting.

You may have to go into intensive training workshops on coding and programming. You may have to learn long and rigorous statistical analysis methods. You will be writing long lines of code.

If you are a very fast learner, our best guess would be one year to learn, make mistakes and master it.

You would spend a lot of money. You would exert a lot of energy.

As a business owner, you may just think of outsourcing the whole thing.

It’s just wiser to use your money to buy time.

However, you can save your money and your time. Also, business owners can speed up their work while having less stress. How?

In three words: data visualization tools.

However, to see the exact outline on how to go about it, you’ve got to get to the end.

It’s going to be a very eye-opening ride.

Strap on your seatbelts.

It’s about to go down!

Quick guess: where are you?

Before we go on and make very bold statements about having you all figured out, let us make our disclaimer.

You may not be exactly at this point.

However, you are somewhere around the corner.

So, what is our guess?

You have data from a survey.

You are probably comparing two or more products.

You have developed an effective survey and administered your questionnaire.

You have also collected the data.

Now, you want to analyze and find how satisfied your customers are.

Preparing and answering the questionnaire is relatively easy.

The analysis is what may prove difficult.

Reviewers of your survey analysis could question your analysis and conclusion.

Proving the effectiveness and validity of your analysis with good evidence is what needs doing.

What this article will do is to help you remove all roadblocks to your analysis.

It will give you an understanding of how to effectively analyze Likert scale data.

And you can do this without breaking your back.

How?

We will show you in the upcoming parts of the article. Let’s go!

What is a Likert Scale Survey?

A Likert scale is a usually bipolar scale.

Which means that it consists of two opposing poles.

It is used to measure the intensity of feelings, opinions, and attitudes towards a subject matter.

It mostly asks how much a respondent agrees or disagrees with a particular statement.

So, the Likert scale questionnaire collects the information from the respondents.

The Likert Scale is mostly used by researchers, psychologists, sociologists, analysts, and marketers.

The scale assumes that the strength and intensity of the feelings are linear.

That is it goes from a complete disagreement to a complete agreement.

It is a one-way scale.

The questions in Likert scales range from general to even more specific topics.

That is a long-form of defining it.

However, there is something you need to realize.

As effective as the Likert Scale Survey may be, it could be made ineffective.

Since you are sampling human opinions, there are delicate things to be done to get perfect data.

Humans can change, have mood swings, be deceptive, and untrue to their opinions.

Most of us sometimes don’t even know our thoughts.

This could cause a lot of irregularities in the data collected.

It is almost like another roadblock.

Here’s how to clear it up.

There are simple and basic characteristics of effective Likert Scale questions.

They are the specific ingredients that your survey needs to be effective.

Let’s check them out.

• Scale Type

You need to carefully choose the type of scale that you use in your Likert survey.

There are satisfaction scales, quality scales, agreement scales, importance scales, etc.

The type of scale you use should be well suited for your type of questions.

• Bipolarity

A unipolar scale goes from a ‘no feeling’ to the ‘maximum feeling’. If we were to represent with numbers, it would go from ‘1 to 5’.

On the other hand, a bipolar scale would go from ‘-5 to +5’. It goes from an intense positive to an intense negative.

The bipolar Likert scale is more detailed. It avails the respondents a wider scale of options to express true opinions.

And respondents can be sure that each pole is the complete opposite of the other.

• Neutrality

Some scales use an even number of options. It usually removes the option of neutrality to give a 4 point scale.

This is usually done due to the tendency of humans to be polite.Some respondents feel like their responses might hurt.

So they give a neutral response. This prevents you from getting objective data.

However, eliminating the neutral point of view may also force some respondents to answer wrongly.

The respondents may be truly neutral in their feelings concerning the subject. This might make them leave questions completely unanswered.

• Number of options

The 5 point scale is the most common, most used, and most relatable. It has two extremes with a neutral point in the middle.

However, some other Likert scales use lesser or more than 5-point options. You should choose the number of options that directly suit your respondents and survey.

• Using Wider Scales

Wider scales provide more variations to the choices that can be made. This will result in selections that yield a better dataset.

It also allows the respondents to find opinions that suit their feelings in the survey.

The con of this is: with many survey questions, respondents tend to become overwhelmed with too many options.

This may lead to mindless selections and non-objective data.

With the characteristics listed above, you can effectively prepare your Likert survey to yield desired results.

Let us now see how the Likert scale is used in data analysis.

How is the Likert Scale used in Data Analysis?

Surveys are generally used by businesses and researchers to measure and analyze product quality.

It can also be used to measure the quality of services.

The respondents are asked to provide their opinions from better to worse using different levels of measurement.

The measurement may be two, three, four, five, or seven point.

According to researchers and auditors, collected data is usually grouped into levels.

There is a hierarchy of four fundamental measurement levels into which data can be grouped into.

The levels include Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio measurement levels.

By understanding and classifying your data into these levels, you will better understand how to analyze them.

• Nominal data

Nominal data cannot be quantified or ordered. Each element of a nominal data set stands alone.

We cannot identify which is greater in number than the other. We cannot also identify which comes before the other. That is simply what nominal data is.

• Ordinal data

In ordinal data, the data can be sorted and classified. The data can also be ordered.

That means that you can recognize which comes before the other. And which is less than the other.

However, you cannot measure the distance between the variables. It is not possible to know how much A is greater than B. Likert scale data is usually classified as ordinal data.

• Interval data

In interval data, it is possible to know how much A is greater than B. You can also order them accordingly.

• Ratio Data

The ratio data is very much similar to interval data. However, the intervals in ratio data are equal and definitive.

That is, the difference between ‘A and B’ is equal to the difference between ‘B and C’.

Also in ratio data, there is an absolute zero as the point of origin and the reference point.

Next up is how then to analyze ordinal data like the Likert Scale.

How you can Interpret the Likert Scale

The analysis of nominal, interval, and ratio data is generally straightforward and transparent.

We have said before that ordinal data analyze data such as the Likert Scale data.

There is still a huge debate amongst analysts and researchers about handling Likert Scale data as interval data.

These are some things to know and keep in mind when trying to analyze Likert scale data.

• Define the Focus

Before you begin data analysis, you need to identify what your aim is.

You need to know what the purpose of your survey is.

This will also guide the survey questions and make them one-dimensional.

That is, it will be principally focused on one topic.

• Generate the Likert Scale items

The Likert Scale items should agree with the Likert questions. That is you should pick a scale that corresponds with your questions.

When the scale does not correspond with the questions, the audience may get confused and leave you with undesirable responses.

• Rate the Likert items

This is done to ascertain the quality of the scales chosen in step 2 above. After generating the Likert scale items, have your selection reviewed. Rate the items as either favorable or unfavorable to your focus.

Then, weed out items that are not favorable to your survey focus.

• Group the scale items

In cases where there were diverse options for the respondents, they may be all too much to analyze at once.

Therefore, you can group them into related categories for ease of analysis.

Positive opinions can be grouped. Negative opinions can also be grouped to simplify analysis.

At this point, we want to see next when you should use Likert scale analysis.

When you should use Likert Scale Analysis

Likert scale analysis performs great in many surveys.

It might be a survey for employee opinion about a new development.

It might be a survey for quality room service at a hotel.

For either of these situations, Likert scale analysis will get the desired results.

Let us break it down.

  i. Customer Satisfaction

This is one of the most common surveys that gets conducted.

For typical satisfaction surveys, an ordinal scale like the Likert scale is used to measure the opinions of customers and clients.

For example, a typical 5 point scale will ask how much a customer agrees with a statement.

The customer will then go ahead to pick an opinion from the most positive response to the otherwise.

In many cases, the customer may opt for the neutral midpoint.

Likert scales for customer satisfaction may not only be scales of agreement.

It is flexible in that different scales can be used as it relates to the Likert question or statement.

Another example is when customers are asked how often they use the hotel Wi-Fi.

In this case, a scale of frequency will be used.

An example of a frequency scale would be never, rarely, sometimes, often, and always.

Here is another typical example of a Likert scale to measure customer satisfaction.

Q: How satisfied were you with the complimentary breakfast at the hotel?

Scale:

-Very Satisfied

-Satisfied

-Undecided

-Unsatisfied

-Very unsatisfied

This is one way to use Likert scale analysis.

Let’s see another.

  ii. Employee Engagement

Just like for customer satisfaction, Likert scales can be used in an employee survey.

The same 5 point scales will also work well in sampling opinions amongst employees.

You can use the Likert Scale to know how familiar the employees are with new technology and policies.

It can also gauge general feelings about new developments in the company.

It can also measure opinions about employee services and benefits.

An example of a Likert scale for employee engagement is this.

Q: You are satisfied with the investment of the company in education.

Scale:

-Strongly Agree

-Agree

-Neither agree nor disagree

-Disagree

-Strongly Disagree

Let us take a look at one more scenario where you can use Likert scale analysis.

  iii. Professional Event feedback

You just completed an event for professionals in a field.

It could have been business owners, academic lecturers, engineers, consultants, or technology enthusiasts.

You can use the 5-point Likert scale to collect information on the perceived success of the event.

You can use it to evaluate the full experience of the audience at the event.

You can use it to find out their chances of signing up and attending the next event of that sort.

An example of a Likert survey for a professional event is this.

Q: How helpful was the content presented at the event?

Scale:

-Extremely helpful

-Slightly helpful

-Neutral

-Slightly unhelpful

-Extremely unhelpful

Do you remember we talked about a way out of stressful analysis at the beginning?

We’re getting to it right now.

How to Analyze Likert Scale Data in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a platform where you can organize and arrange your collected data.

Organizing is what you do after conducting your survey and collecting your data.

Sometimes, the promise of anonymity would further reduce societal pressure and yield a better-suited dataset.

The best way to analyze Likert scale data is to visualize it.

Data visualization can help you get a complete understanding of your data in a second.

The best tool for visualization of Likert data is the ChartExpo add-on for Google Sheets.

ChartExpo has over 50 visualizations used to create perfect visuals to represent your data.

The creation of Likert scale visuals in Google Sheets has never been easier.

Let’s see an example of how Wendy used ChartExpo to draw a Likert scale visualization.

Wendy runs a digital marketing company.

She wanted to have details about her employee engagement.

She needed this to increase productivity and focus on her company’s success.

She, therefore, drew up a survey and made questionnaires for her employees.

Here are some of the questions she asked in her survey.

1. The company’s current activities reflect a strong focus on the clients.
2. We produce the highest quality work for our clients.
3. I have the freedom I need to meet customers’ needs.
4. I understand the issues our clients are facing

After administering the questionnaire, she collated the answers and results.

She then organized her data in Google Sheets.

From this spreadsheet, you cannot make sense of the data no matter how hard you try.

You can see the numbers all right.

But they do not flow in a way that puts you in the minds of the respondents.

Let us see how Wendy made sense of this data.

She clicked on the ‘Add-ons’ at the top of her page.

Next, she opened the ChartExpo add-on.

The application opened up on the right side of her screen.

She then clicked on ‘Create Chart’ and selected ‘Specialized Survey Charts’.

Afterward, she selected the Likert chart.

She selected the sheet name.

She added ‘count’ as a metric; ‘questions’ and ‘ratings’ as dimensions.

Finally, she clicked on the ‘create chart’ button.

Her visual looked like this.

Insights

From this chart, you can see that Wendy has a good employee engagement overall.

61% of her employees gave the highest rating when asked about having the freedom to meet customers’ needs.

The second question had more negative than positive ratings.

This, therefore, helps Wendy to know the actions to take.

This analysis will therefore help Wendy make more out of her company and record more success.

That is just for Google sheets.

How about Excel spreadsheet users?

Here is the outline on how to use ChartExpo on an Excel (2013 with sp1 and later) spreadsheet.

How to Analyze Likert Scale Data in Excel

The Excel spreadsheet is also a tool to arrange and organize Likert scale data.

The features to create Likert data visualizations do not come along with the Excel software.

However, with an add-in like ChartExpo, it becomes extremely easy to visualize Likert data.

Let us see the step-by-step way to get started with ChartExpo in Excel.

First, open your Excel application and worksheet.

Then, click on the ‘Insert’ menu, click on My Apps, and click on ‘See all’.

If you have the plug-in installed, then you would see your ChartExp on the add-in page.

Click on the add-in and click ‘insert’ at the bottom of the page.

The add-in will be added to your Excel interface.

You can log in with an existing Microsoft account or create a new one.

You can do this by clicking the ‘create new’ button.

You would only be required to log in once.

Upon subsequent usage, you will not be asked to log in.

If you do not have the ChartExpo plugin installed, download it and follow the same steps to getting started.

To create a Likert chart on ChartExpo, select ‘Create Chart’.

Select ‘Survey’ and click ‘Likert chart’.

You will see a chart displayed on the screen.

You can explore the sample data of the chart by clicking on the ‘Explore sample Data’.

Let us see an example of how Curtis visualized his Likert scale data.

Curtis runs a software company.

Curtis wanted to get a satisfaction report from his customers.

He, therefore, created a survey and drew up questions for his customers.

These are some of his questions.

1. The software I wanted was easy to find.
2. The checkout process was easy.
3. The software solved my needs.
4. I am happy with my purchase.

After administering the questionnaire, he collated his results and arranged them into his Excel spreadsheet.

He then selected ‘Create Chart from sheet data’ on his opened ChartExpo ™ plugin.

This was his chart.

From this chart, Curtis was able to know where his product stood with his customers.

Most of the customers recorded that they were happy with their purchase.

The insights produced by this chart will therefore help Curtis to hone his strengths and work on his weaknesses.

Wrap Up

Let us guess that you’re not like our friend. Ourfriend loves to do excruciating work before she feels fulfilled.

We respect her. We just believe on the other hand that things can be and should be simpler.

Data analysis can prove to be excruciating work. What about Likert scale data? Even more excruciating.

From setting up the survey to getting insights from the data, Likert scale analysis can be difficult.

However, following the processes outlined in this article will make it a smooth sail for you.

First, you use the guidelines for setting up effective survey questions.

Then you use ChartExpo to visualize and understand your data.

Either you use Google Sheets or Excel spreadsheet ,you can easily use ChartExpo in analyzing your Likert Scale data.

With ChartExpo, it was easy for Wendy and Curtis. Now, it has become easy for you.

It is time to go on that voyage.

Gear up Captain!

We’re rooting for you.