Develop Instruments

The instruments used during data collection vary depending on the data collection procedures being used, but could include designing a survey and drafting the specific questions and skip patterns to be used, or developing an interviewer guide for personal interviews or a moderators’ guide for focus groups. If data is to be collected through experiments, observation, or secondary data sources it’s at this stage that we would develop the specific protocol for doing that.

We build in procedures that reduce the chances of data entry errors. For example, if we’re doing a Web survey or will need to enter data from another type of survey into a database we ensure that only valid values can be entered. So, for instance, someone trying to enter three hundred in response to a question for which responses are intended to range between one and one hundred would see an error message and be asked to re-enter his or her response.

We ensure that clients have an opportunity to review whatever instruments we develop at this stage before they are actually used so that we can answer any questions they have or address any concerns that arise. If we are doing a Web survey, clients have the opportunity to review the survey once again once it’s online and fully functional.

Depending on the nature of the project as well as the time-frame and budget, we frequently conduct formal pre-tests using the instruments that have been developed.