Cognitive Interviewing

The design and evaluation of questionnaires—and of other written and oral materials—is a challenging endeavor, fraught with potential pitfalls. Cognitive Interviewing: A Tool for Improving Questionnaire Design describes a means of systematically developing survey questions through investigations that intensively probe the thought processes of individuals who are presented with those inquiries. The work provides general guidance about questionnaire design, development, and pre-testing sequence, with an emphasis on the cognitive interview. In particular, the book gives detailed instructions about the use of verbal probing techniques, and how one can elicit additional information from subjects about their thinking and about the manner in which they react to tested questions. These tools help researchers discover how well their questions are working, where they are failing, and determine what they can do to rectify the wide variety of problems that may surface while working with questionnaires.

Despite the obvious importance of eyewitness information in criminal investigation, police receive surprisingly little instruction on how to conduct an effective interview with a cooperative eyewitness. More than half of police departments have no formal training whatsoever for newly appointed investigators. Most texts in police science either completely omit the issue of effective interviewing techniques or provide only superficial coverage. This manual provides guiding principles to effective interviewing, with specific techniques to be used and others to be avoided. There are principles of memory retrieval so that the reader will understand why to employ specific techniques -- for example, when to use open-ended versus direct short-answer questions, effective use of pauses, asking follow-up questions, cues to name and number recall, etc. There is the strategy of interview sequential structure -- that is, what to probe for at the beginning, middle, and end of the interview. Also included are practical exercises and real-world experiences. The book will also be helpful for attorneys in conducting investigative interviews.

The use of the cognitive interviewing method for survey question testing has proliferated and evolved over the past 30 years. In more recent years the method has been applied to the evaluation of information letters and leaflets and to research consent forms. This book provides a practical handbook for implementing cognitive interviewing methods in the context of applied social policy research, based on the approach used by the authors at the NatCen Social Research (NatCen) where cognitive interviewing methods have been used for well over a decade. The book provides a justification for the importance of question testing and evaluation and discusses the position of cognitive interviewing in relation to other questionnaire development and evaluation techniques. Throughout the book, the focus is on providing practical and hands-on guidance around elements such as sampling and recruitment, designing probes, interviewing skills, data management and analysis and how to interpret the findings and use them to improve survey questions and other documents. The book also covers cognitive interviewing in different survey modes, in cross national, cross cultural and multilingual settings and discusses some other potential uses of the method.

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE TO THE EVOLUTION OF THEORY AND METHODOLOGY WITHIN COGNITIVE INTERVIEW PROCESSES Providing a comprehensive approach to cognitive interviewing in the field of survey methodology, Cognitive Interviewing Methodology delivers a clear guide that draws upon modern, cutting-edge research from a variety of fields. Each chapter begins by summarizing the prevailing paradigms that currently dominate the field of cognitive interviewing. Then underlying theoretical foundations are presented, which supplies readers with the necessary background to understand newly-evolving techniques in the field. The theories lead into developed and practiced methods by leading practitioners, researchers, and/or academics. Finally, the edited guide lays out the limitations of cognitive interviewing studies and explores the benefits of cognitive interviewing with other methodological approaches. With a primary focus on question evaluation, Cognitive Interviewing Methodology also includes: Step-by-step procedures for conducting cognitive interviewing studies, which includes the various aspects of data collection, questionnaire design, and data interpretation Newly developed tools to benefit cognitive interviewing studies as well as the field of question evaluation, such as Q-Notes, a data entry and analysis software application, and Q-Bank, an online resource that houses question evaluation studies A unique method for questionnaire designers, survey managers, and data users to analyze, present, and document survey data results from a cognitive interviewing study An excellent reference for survey researchers and practitioners in the social sciences who utilize cognitive interviewing techniques in their everyday work, Cognitive Interviewing Methodology is also a useful supplement for courses on survey methods at the upper-undergraduate and graduate-level.

For as long as we have been researching human memory, psychologists have been investigating how people remember and forget. This research is regularly drawn upon in our legal systems. Historically, we have relied upon eyewitness memory to help judge responsibility and adjudicate truth, but memory is malleable, prone to error, and susceptible to bias. Even confident eyewitnesses make mistakes, and even accurate witnesses sometimes find their testimony subjected to harsh scrutiny. Emerging from this environment, the Cognitive Interview (CI) became a means of assisting cooperative witnesses with recalling more information without sacrificing accuracy. First used by police interviewing adult witnesses, it is now used with many populations in many contexts, including public health, accident reconstruction, and the interrogation of terror suspects. Evidence-Based Investigative Interviewing reviews the application of cognitive research to investigative interviewing, revealing how principles of cognition, memory, and social dynamics may increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. It provides evidence-based applications for investigators beyond the forensic domain in areas such as eyewitness identification, detecting deception, and interviewing children. Drawing together the work of thirty-three authors across both the academic and practice communities, this comprehensive collection is essential reading for researchers in psychology, forensics, and disciplines such as epidemiology and gerontology.

The definitive resource for survey questionnaire testing and evaluation Over the past two decades, methods for the development, evaluation, and testing of survey questionnaires have undergone radical change. Research has now begun to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various testing and evaluation methods, as well as to estimate the methods’ reliability and validity. Expanding and adding to the research presented at the International Conference on Questionnaire Development, Evaluation and Testing Methods, this title presents the most up-to-date knowledge in this burgeoning field. The only book dedicated to the evaluation and testing of survey questionnaires, this practical reference work brings together the expertise of over fifty leading, international researchers from a broad range of fields. The volume is divided into seven sections: Cognitive interviews Mode of administration Supplements to conventional pretests Special populations Experiments Multi-method applications Statistical modeling Comprehensive and carefully edited, this groundbreaking text offers researchers a solid foundation in the latest developments in testing and evaluating survey questionnaires, as well as a thorough introduction to emerging techniques and technologies.

Cognitive interviewing, based on the self-report methods of Ericsson and Simon, is a key form of qualitative research that has developed over the past thirty years. The primary objective of cognitive interviewing, also known as cognitive testing, is to understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying the survey-response process. An equally important aim is contributing to the development of best practices for writing survey questions that are well understood and that produce low levels of response error. In particular, an important applied objective is the evaluation of a particular set of questions, items, or other materials under development by questionnaire designers, to determine means for rewording, reordering, or reconceptualizing. Hence, as well as providing an empirical, psychologically oriented framework for the general study of questionnaire design, cognitive interviewing has been adopted as a 'production' mechanism for the improvement of a wide variety of survey questions, whether factual, behavioral, or attitudinal in nature. As with other methods that rely on qualitative data, cognitive interviewing has increasingly been criticized for being lax in the critical area of the development of systematic methods for data reduction, analysis, and reporting of results. Practitioners tend to conduct cognitive interviewing in varying ways, and the data coding and compilation activities undertaken are often nonstandardized and poorly described. There is a considerable need for further development--and documentation--relating not only to a description of this variation but also to providing a set of recommendations for minimal standards, if not best practices. The proposed volume endeavors to address this clear omission.

A new and updated definitive resource for survey questionnaire testing and evaluation Building on the success of the first Questionnaire Development, Evaluation, and Testing (QDET) conference in 2002, this book brings together leading papers from the Second International Conference on Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation, and Testing (QDET2) held in 2016. The volume assesses the current state of the art and science of QDET; examines the importance of methodological attention to the questionnaire in the present world of information collection; and ponders how the QDET field can anticipate new trends and directions as information needs and data collection methods continue to evolve. Featuring contributions from international experts in survey methodology, Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing includes latest insights on question characteristics, usability testing, web probing, and other pretesting approaches, as well as: Recent developments in the design and evaluation of digital and self-administered surveys Strategies for comparing and combining questionnaire evaluation methods Approaches for cross-cultural and cross-national questionnaire development New data sources and methodological innovations during the last 15 years Case studies and practical applications Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing serves as a forum to prepare researchers to meet the next generation of challenges, making it an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners in government, academia, and the private sector.