Love songs and Likert scales

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At xkcd on December 20, 2023 there is a webcomic titled Love Songs, shown above in my colorized version of that 2x2 chart. The horizontal scale is for Do I Like You?, while the vertical scale is for Do You Like Me? Both scales have these five levels:

 

No!!                            [1]

 

No                              [2]

 

Unclear or Neutral    [3]

 

Yes                             [4]

 

Yes!!                          [5]

 

There is an article by Gail M. Sullivan and Anthony R. Artino, Jr. on pages 541 and 542 in the December 2013 issue of the Journal of Graduate Medical Education titled Analyzing and Interpreting Data from Likert-Type Scales. It says:

 

“Developed in 1932 by Rensis Likert to measure attitudes, the typical Likert scale is a 5- or 7-point ordinal scale used by respondents to rate the degree to which they agree or disagree with a statement.”

 

Of course, there also is a detailed Wikipedia article, and a 22-page pdf article by Jan Losby and Anne Wetmore from February 14, 2012 titled CDC Coffee Break: Using Likert Scales in Evaluation Survey Work.

 

The love songs range from strong mutual disliking (You Oughta Know) to strong mutual liking (Teenage Dream). An article at EXPLAIN xkcd lists the artists for all 19 of them.