Developing and testing quality data collection instruments

Abstract

A well-designed and tested data collection instrument is one of the most powerful tools that researchers in health and medicine, business and public policy, education, and the social sciences have to obtain accurate measurements of attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and behaviors. Harnessing the power of this tool requires careful attention to a wide range of design issues from wording the questions in a way that is easily understood to selecting response categories to ordering the questions to formatting the questions for a screen or on paper. In this seminar, we review best practices in the development and testing of data collection instruments that may be administered online, by mail, or by an interviewer. We will provide numerous examples of how to design and evaluate questions and how to implement commonly used testing procedures, including in-depth cognitive interviews and field pretests, to help ensure that measurements are accurate and reliable.