The effect of the origin of the Likert’s scale on the descriptive and analytical findings of a questionnaire

There is no consensus for transforming the origin of scoring on the Likert’s scale in a questionnaire. This study was carried out with the aim of investigating the effect of the transformation of the origin of scoring on the indices of central tendency, dispersion and the independent t-test.

In the study, the effect of transforming the origin of scoring was investigated inferentially, and the results of the transformation were compared by a illustrating. In this research, a 4-point Likert’s scale was considered starting with scoring zero and one. Independent t-test was used to compare the mean scores in two groups.

The results of the study showed that transforming of the origin of scoring from 1 to zero in the Likert’s scale only leads to a difference in the value of the tendency to the center. While the dispersion indices and statistical statistics will not have any difference in both scoring methods.

Changing the origin of scoring in the questionnaires when the total scores have a normal distribution, does not affect on the independent t-test and standard deviation, and only the indices of the tendency to the center will be different in the two scoring systems.