2014 Health Center Patient Survey Cognitive Protocol Intro

2014 Health Center Patient Survey

Cognitive Protocol

I would like to provide you with some information before we begin.

We are testing a questionnaire about health care received by patients of health centers. This questionnaire will eventually be provided to patients across the country. We have contacted you because you have recently visited a health center.

We are testing these survey questions with different people to see how well the questions work. We want to know: Do they make sense? How easy or difficult are they to answer? We want to understand what you think each question means and how you arrive at your answers. This will help us find out whether there are any problems with the questionnaire. Your feedback will help us during the development of the survey questionnaire. There are no right or wrong answers.

This is how it will work—we’re going to go through the questionnaire together. I will read the questions to you and you will tell me your answers. As you are thinking about your answers, I’d like you to “think aloud.” This way I can understand how you came up with your answer. It may feel a little unnatural to do this, but it will help me understand how you decide your answer and what you think of the question. Again, there are no right or wrong answers. Here’s an example of what I’d like you to try and do:

Let’s say I ask you: How many TVs do you own?

Instead of just saying: Two TVs

You might respond: Well we have a TV in the main room and I have a TV in my bedroom. Oh-my son who lives with me has a TV in his room. My daughter also has a TV that is in her room, but she stays with her aunt most of the time and with me on weekends. So I am not sure if you want to count that.

As you can see, if you had just said two TVs then we would not have known about the TVs used by the children. What is important in these interviews is understanding how you came up with your response more than the response itself.

Do you have any questions about the example?

After some of the questions in the survey, I will also ask you some follow-up questions. However, please feel free at any time to say what you think about any of the questions, even if I don’t ask you about them. You can also ask me about any questions that seem hard to understand.

Before we get started I want to give you this consent form. It explains the study and what you are being asked to do. Please stop me at any point if you have a question.

PROVIDE CONSENT FORM. REVIEW MAIN POINTS OF THE FORM.

When you’re ready, please sign on the signature line [POINT TO THE LINE] to show that you understand your role and are participating voluntarily. I will also give you a copy of the form for you to keep. There are phone numbers that you can call if you have any questions about the study after today.

COLLECT SIGNED CONSENT.

Do you have any questions before we get started?