THE RADBURN SCALE

Rensis Likert and Radburn

24 Randolph Terrace, the Likert home, top right, overlooks R Park  (circa 1938).

By Stephen Taylor 

In the early evening of October 28th, 1932, 29-year-old Rensis Likert stepped out of his R Park home in Radburn, the still-new “Town for the Motor Age.’’ He had a panoramic view of the park and the fields beyond. In the distance, he might have spotted some tardy horse riders returning to the nearby stables.  

Heading north, he would have seen the lamp of the new footbridge over Fair Lawn Avenue. As he ascended this bridge into the canopy of the trees that lined the avenue, a new Ford Model B might have safely roared by underneath. To his right, he might have made out the lights of the old farmers’ Grange, which, five years earlier, had been the largest building in the area. To his left, on the other side of an old Dutch house, was his destination: the Radburn Plaza Building.

The Fair Lawn Avenue footbridge (left) and the Radburn Plaza Building (right).

The Plaza Building clock tower would have read just before eight o clock. That’s when Likert was to give a talk in room 204. His presentation, the first of six in a psychology series,  was about the control of emotions. A group discussion would follow. The Radburn audience paid one dollar to attend – about $20 dollars today.  Likert might have begun his lecture with a question:

 How much control do you have over your emotions?

  1               2              3                4                    5

 (none)                    (some)                            (complete).

If so, this would have been the first time anyone in his audience would have seen this kind of scale. Even eminent economist and Radburn resident Richard T. Ely would have been unfamiliar.

That’s because Likert was just developing this format. The answers had corresponding numbers; there was a neutral middle option; and there was an odd number of questions. The scale allowed attitudes to be measured on a numerical continuum. He published research on this new method in 1932 and 1934, and the format soon became the basis for all manner of surveys, market research, opinion polls, and psychology questionnaires. Today it is everywhere:  When you rate a frying pan on Amazon’s 5-star rating system (awful to excellent) you are using a Likert scale.

                            The Bulletin, Oct 27, 1932, with details on Likert’s talk.    

Likert, his wife Jane, and their baby daughter, Elizabeth, were the first occupants of 24 Randolph Terrace. They arrived in 1932, the same year he completed his Ph.D. in psychology at Columbia University.

While in Radburn, the Lickerts were involved in community life – Jane was PTA president – but also paid attention to the wider world. At a Citizens Association meeting in 1934, Rensis spoke of the importance of the Pure Food Act before Congress. A year later, the CA minutes have him protesting legislation requiring public school teachers to pledge an oath of loyalty to state and federal authority.  

Likert taught at NYU until 1935, when he and Jane had another child, Patricia. By 1937, the family had moved to Connecticut, where Likert had taken a position as a research director for a life insurance company.

 24 Randolph Terrace (top left) in 1931, just before the Likerts bought the house.  

A native of Wyoming, Rensis Likert would become a prominent innovator in statistics, market research, government, and business leadership.  In 1939 he became the first director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Division of Program Surveys.  In 1941 he expanded this organization to be the first general survey organization. He received the Medal of Freedom for his survey work during World War Two. 

He founded and then directed the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan until retiring in 1970. There, he came up with an influential theory called participative management. His research showed that businesses benefited from employee input and self-initiative.  He also served as president of the American Statistics Association.  

                                                  Rensis Likert in his later years.

When he died in 1981 at the age of 78, he was remembered for his optimism and warmth.  Despite a long distinguished career,  his most remembered achievement is his scale. What is not remembered, in any article or obituary about Likert, is the following: As a young man, Likert lectured, started his family, his career, and even developed his famous scale in a vibrant new planned community called Radburn.

Contributing: Rick Hampson