Questionnaire Adapting: Little Changes Mean a Lot.

Area of Science:

• Psychometrics
• Survey Methodology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Questionnaire development requires rigorous reliability and validity testing.
• Time and cost constraints often lead researchers to adapt existing questionnaires.
• The impact of questionnaire adaptations on item interpretation is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the comprehension of original versus adapted questionnaire items using cognitive interviews.
• To assess the efficiency and utility of cognitive interviewing for pre-data collection evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Cognitive interviews were conducted to assess participant understanding of questionnaire items.
• Participants evaluated both original and adapted versions of questionnaire items.
• Qualitative data on item interpretation and participant feedback were collected.

Main Results:

• All participants demonstrated different comprehension levels for original and adapted items.
• Participant scores changed after comparing original and adapted questionnaire items.
• Participants unanimously found the adapted items easier to understand than the original items.

Conclusions:

• Cognitive interviewing is an effective method for evaluating questionnaire adaptations.
• Adaptations can improve item clarity and ease of understanding for participants.
• This approach allows for efficient assessment of item interpretation prior to large-scale data collection.