How do I rank variables collected by a Likert scale questionnaire?

[ali1362]

I have gathered data from about 70 construction firms who are not currently using a specific software and I asked them why they have not implemented such a software based on 5 point Likert scale. The variables were, high cost, long time required for implementation, difficulty of using the software, etc. For example they have to choose whether high cost of the software was the reason that they have not installed it by selecting strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree.

My question is that how I can rank those 5 main variables (cost, time, etc.)? Can I just provide the mean score and rank them in terms of the mean for answers or is there any other parametric or non parametric tests?

In the case I want to see if the reasons cluster somehow - do people who rate one variable highly also rate another one highly - what test should I use?

[terzi]

Hi ali1362,

You actually have a bit of choices for your data. A cluster analysis may be helpful to detect groups of responses, that is, people who tend to answer every question the same way. Another alternative would be correspondence analysis, where you could observe whether the levels of the responses are associated, for instance, whether those who agree that the software is expensive also tend to answer that it is difficult.

Regarding the ranks, I don't know what you mean by that. It is common to present mean or percentages, whatever suits you the best, with likert scale items if that's what you asking, but if you want to know which factor is more important for the consumer's decision you would need some more information and maybe some models. Hope this helps.

[hlsmith]

Agreed that it would be difficult to rank the questions. This aime should have been a question of its own. Please rank the following variables on their influence related to not implementing the software (options: time, learning curve, etc.). Also, it might have also been interesting to survey those who adopted and see why they implemented the software. Are they just innovators?