Evaluating questions and interviewer-interviewee interaction in an interview using a standardized questionnaire

Abstract

The evaluation of health survey questions in Brazil is limited, in most cases, to pilot tests and interview debriefing. The purpose of this article is to contribute to filling this gap by presenting a cognitive assessment methodology for identifying potentially “problematic” questions regarding their formulation and what happens in the interviewer-interviewee interaction, when applying them in interviews using the standardized questionnaire in a regional health survey. In this study, two standardized scripts were used to identify difficulties in writing and/or understanding and evaluating the interviewer-interviewee interaction. Among the 513 questions in the individual research questionnaire, 68 questions were indicated as being potentially problematic for the interviewees to understand and communicate. The questions that presented problems in their formulation, with the highest score (>40), were those related to the quantification of time; the degree of difficulty for self-care; work situation and income estimation. Among the questions identified as problematic in the evaluation by the Question Appraisal System (SAP), self-care and hours worked are among those that also scored high in the interaction evaluation.

Keywords:
Health survey; Questionnaire standardization; Question assessment; Interviewer-interviewee interaction; Cognitive approach