Cognitive interviewing: an interactive introduction

Speaker(s):

Marco Pomati, Q-Step Centre, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

Abstract:

Cognitive interviewing is a method used to improve the quality of survey questions. The goal of cognitive interviewing is to understand how people understand and respond to questionnaire questions, and to identify potential sources of confusion. It generally involves conducting semi-structured interviews with a range of respondents to understand their thought processes as they understand and answer questionnaire questions. Conducting cognitive interviewing before a survey is carried out generally results in better questionnaire questions and more confidence in the answers we receive. This session covers cognitive interviewing sampling, data collection and analysis through an interactive workshop with group activities.