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Warsaw 2009: Presentations and short courses

Short course: Cognitive interviewing

Authors:

Rory Fitzgerald; City University London, United Kingdom
Debbie Collins; National Centre for Social Research - NatCen, United Kingdom

Abstract:

This short course will summarise the reasons why survey questions can fail to meet their measurement objectives and will consider how cognitive interviewing methods can be used to identify the causes of such failings. The course will also look at the application of cognitive interviewing in the context of cross national research. Specifically the course will provide an overview of the theory of survey question response, the principles of cognitive interviewing and analysis of cognitive interview data.

The course will focus on the use of cognitive probing when testing questions for interviewer administered surveys. The course will be interactive, examining questions from the European Social Survey and will provide participants with the chance to briefly practice cognitive interviewing techniques.

Literature:

Beatty, P (2004), The Dynamics of Cognitive Interviewing in: S. Presser, J.M. Rothgeb, M.P. Couper, J.T. Lessler, E. Martin, J. Martin and E. Singer. Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questionnaires, Wiley. Hoboken, New Jersey. 45-66.

Tourangeau, R., Rips, L., Rasinski, K. (2000) Psychology of Survey Response. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Willis, G. (2005), Cognitive Interviewing, : a tool for improving questionnaire design Sage: London.