I have some quantitative data in the form of Likert scale, and I would like to obtain the mean score for each question. I am using +2.0 = ‘Strongly Agree’, +1.0 = ‘Agree’, 0.0 = ‘Not Sure’, -1.0 = ‘Disagree’, -2.0 = ‘Strongly Disagree’.
If I had 8 participants and these were the responses:
I am getting a mean score of -0.625. However I thought that a mean score in the proximity of +2.0 indicates that the respondents strongly agree whilst a -2.0 indicates that they strongly disagree. I am getting -0.625 by diving the total score by 8. Not sure if that is what is to be done. Or if I am misinterpreting what the mean score is saying.
Addendum:
Likert scale is used to collect respondents' opinions. This psychometric scale is used to understand the views and perspectives towards your research.
Your data is the vector $(-1, 2, 0,-1,0,-2,-2,-1)$, and the sample average is $$ \bar x = (-1 + 2 + 0 -1 + 0 - 2 - 2 - 1)/8 = -0.625. $$
This means that the overall opinion of the people in the sample in this sample (about whatever you are studying) is about 'disagree'.