Pretest Survey Instruments

Why is desirable to pretest survey instruments?

Researchers should pretest survey instruments because:

• It helps to discover ways to increase participant interest
• Increases the likelihood that participants will remain engaged to the completion of the survey
• It helps discover question content, wording and sequencing problems
• Discovers target question groups where researcher training is needed
• Helps explore different ways to improve the overall quality of survey data.

The information that a researcher can secure by pretesting is the participant's reaction to the questions. Also, the researcher can secure errors in the questionnaire and fixed it along the way.

The best wording for a questionnaire can be found by asking your self the following questions:

1. Is the question stated in terms of a shared vocabulary?
2. Does the question contain vocabulary with a single meaning?
3. Does the question contain unsupported or misleading assumptions?
4. Does the question contain biased wording?
5. Is the question correctly personalized?
6. Are adequate alternatives presented withing the question?

The researcher must know who the target participants are going to be and what kind of answers is looking for in order to create a good set of questions.The vocabulary use in the questionnaire must be understood by both the researcher and the participant. The vocabulary can be found by using simple English words and phrases. You should also remember that questions should not be only constructed on words, you can incorporated visual images as part of the questioning process.

Business Research Methods, Eleventh Edition. D.Copper/P. Schindler