How to make a composite score out of different Lickert-scale variables?

[rezaz]

Hey everyone,

I have 4 questions asked in the questionnaire for self-esteem which must be measured using four items. The items are rated using a
5-point Likert scale (0–4). Composite scores should span 0–16. How should I construct the composite score using SAS?

[mkeintz]

It appears you merely want to sum of the 4 individual likert scales - a very very basic task in SAS.

What have you tried so far?  Please provide us sample data in the form of a working DATA step.  Then you will be on the path to joy.

[rezaz]

Hey mkeintz

Thanks a lot, strange as it may seem, I didn't couldn't think of this solution. I'm a newbie to SAS and I thought the answer should be way more complicated than this!

[ballardw]

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@rezaz wrote:

Hey mkeintz

Thanks a lot, strange as it may seem, I didn't couldn't think of this solution. I'm a newbie to SAS and I thought the answer should be way more complicated than this!

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The complication would typically come in creating a composite score where each component had a different "weight" of importance in the resulting composite. Such as suppose from "well accepted literature" or similar that it was "know" that factor 1 had more impact on the outcome than factor 4 by some "known" margin. If you still want the score to be 0 to 16 but use that known difference of impact then you would get into a more complicated standardization than a simple sum.