Hi Cathy, I don't think there's a rule and it depends on what you want
to explain. Being for or against sth as such is often the most
significant question one is interested in and the Likert scale is a tool
to lure people into expressing their opinion, given that they can weakly
dis/agree. And I personally think it's a better tool than erasing the
"don't know" option. That's what some researchers do but after reading
Bourdieu's brillant chapter on the don't know responses in
"Distinctions", I won't. However, if certain question typically elicit
strong dis/agreement while others don't, that's an interesting fact in
its own right. I see no reason to not exhaust the nuances of your results.
Best, Christoph
On 11/29/2016 6:34 PM, Cathy Baldwin wrote:
> Hi there,
> Has anyone reported on attitudinal data from a 5-point likert scale and can
> recommend any papers that discuss when it's okay/legit /preferable to cite
> the nominal combined categories (Agree/disagree) and when it's preferable
> to cite the different categories of response by the scale? I've got a very
> sensitive applied research study topic, and sometimes find that a majority
> of people opt for strongly agree and a much smaller percentage opt for tend
> to agree, so find it easier to cite the overall agree, but other times
> there are interesting differences in the 5 response options so it's more
> interesting to cite those. Are there any rules if we are looking at this
> from a descriptive point of view?
> Any advice on this or recommendations of papers would be great.
> Thank you very much!
> Best wishes,
> Cathy Baldwin, University of Oxford / freelance
>
> *************************************************************
> * Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
> * http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
> * A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
> * online discussions, teaching and research resources *
> * and international contacts directory. *
> * To join this list or to look at the archived previous *
> * messages visit: *
> * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML *
> * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all *
> * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: *
> * [log in to unmask] *
> * *
> * Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new *
> * CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com *
> * an international directory of anthropology researchers
> *
> * To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and *
> * go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. *
> *
> ***************************************************************
--
Prof. Dr. Christoph Brumann
Head of Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Honorary Professor, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
MAIL
MPI for Social Anthropology
Advokatenweg 36
06114 Halle
Germany
TEL ++49 (0)345 2927-204
FAX ++49 (0)345 2927-502
EMAIL [log in to unmask]
HP www.eth.mpg.de/~brumann
--
*************************************************************
* Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous *
* messages visit: *
* http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: *
* [log in to unmask] *
* *
* Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new *
* CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com *
* an international directory of anthropology researchers
*
* To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and *
* go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. *
*
***************************************************************
|