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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Practical Methodology of Cognitive Tasks Within a Navigational Assessment
Published on: June 1, 2015
Conducting cognitive interviews to understand question-response limitations
1Survey Statistician, Office of Research and Methodology, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA. KSMiller@cdc.gov
Objectives:
To illustrate how cognitive interviewing techniques can be used to identify question-response problems for poorer and less educated survey respondents and to describe how qualitative analyses of interviews can improve survey questionnaires.
Methods:
A cognitive interviewing project testing a general health questionnaire was administered in southern rural Mississippi.
Results:
Three themes of response difficulty were identified: 1) responding within a survey interaction, 2) making mathematical calculations, and 3) responding within another system of knowledge.
Conclusion:
Understanding how sociocultural factors impact the response process is vital for survey research.
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