Cognitive Interviewing Methodology

7 Case Study: Evaluation of a Sexual Identity Question

KRISTEN MILLER

National Center for Health Statistics

J. MICHAEL RYAN

The American University in Cairo

7.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a case study example¹ of the methodological approach outlined in this book. The chapter also illustrates how findings can be written to demonstrate study credibility and trustworthiness. Moreover, this case study illustrates how cognitive interviewing studies are able to explain and resolve question design problems that impede survey data quality. It also illustrates how cognitive interviewing studies can examine construct validity by determining the basis of respondents' answers as well as identifying construct differences across groups. Significantly, this study builds upon existing cognitive interviewing studies, illustrating the benefits of publicly accessible written reports or papers that document question evaluation findings. With accumulated knowledge regarding the question design of specified constructs, as this case study reveals, cognitive interviewing studies provide necessary information for the development of survey questions that can ultimately capture intended constructs.

The goal of this particular project was to develop and evaluate a sexual identity question for the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).² Development and then evaluation of the question was based on findings from cognitive interviewing studies conducted by the Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory ...