Book reviews

Academics and others have long made use of survey items framed in a Likert form. This type of question, where respondents are asked to agree or disagree with a series of statements, has long been a staple of those creating attitude scales. There has, however, been increasing use of these items in inappropriate settings. This article discusses the appropriate and inappropriate use of Likert items in social science research, using three settings where the agree-disagree response settings are wrongly applied. It concludes with speculation about the diffusion of this form throughout the research culture.