Rensis Likert

Likert's contributions in psychometrics, research samples, and open-ended interviewing have helped form and shape social and organizational psychology.

[1] At the OWI, he was appointed head of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Morale Division (USSBS) in 1944.

[1] After retiring at the age of 67, he formed Rensis Likert Associates, an institution based on his theories of management in organizational psychology.

[citation needed] At the University of Michigan, Likert switched from studying civil engineering to economics and sociology due to the influence of professor Robert Angell.

[citation needed] In 1935, Likert became Director of Research for the Life Insurance Agency Management Association (LIAMA) in Hartford, Connecticut.

[6] In 1939, Likert was invited by Henry Wallace to organize the Division of Program Surveys (DPS) at the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (BAS).

[citation needed] Likert and his team (many of them academics on temporary wartime duty) decided to move to a university.

[7] In 1949, when Dorwin Cartwright moved the Center for Group Dynamics from MIT to the University of Michigan in 1949, the SRC became the Institute for Social Research (ISR).

[10] Likert contributed to the field of psychometrics by developing open-ended interviewing, a technique used to collect information about a person's thoughts, experiences, and preferences.

Likert created the method in 1932 as part of his Ph.D. thesis to identify the extent of a person's attitudes and feelings towards international affairs.

[11] The Likert scale is used in conducting surveys, with applications to business-related areas such as marketing or customer satisfaction, the social sciences, and attitude-related research projects.

[14][15] He outlined a way of describing typical relationships, degree of involvement, and the roles of managers and subordinates in industrial settings.