Analyzing Data Measured By Individual Likert-Type Items

TLDR

Individual Likert-type items are widely used in agricultural education research, as shown by 188 articles published in the Journal of Agricultural Education between volumes 27 and 32. The authors reviewed these 188 articles, noting that most employed descriptive statistics, while 13% used nonparametric tests for paired items and 34% used parametric tests to compare means. The review found that 54% of the articles reported only descriptive statistics, 13% applied nonparametric tests for paired items, and 34% used parametric tests to compare means.

Abstract

Using individual (not summated) Likert-type items (questions) as measurement tools is common in agricultural education research. The Journal of Agricultural Education published 188 research articles in Volumes 27 through 32. Responses to individual Likert-type items on measurement instruments were analyzed in 95, or more than half, of these articles. After reviewing the articles analyzing individual Likert-type items, 5 1 (54%) reported only descriptive statistics (e.g., means, standard deviations, frequencies/percentages by category). Paired Likert-type items or sets of items were compared using nonparametric statistical techniques (e.g., chi-square homogeneity tests, Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon U tests, Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance tests) in 12 (13%) of the articles. Means for paired Likert-type items were compared using parametric statistical procedures (e.g. t-tests or analysis of variance F-tests) in 32 (34%) of the articles.