Qualitative methodology to focus the quantitative approach: the experience of cognitive pretests applied to the Health Survey of the Basque Country

Abstract

In survey research, response errors are very relevant, although strategies to minimize them are rarely used. The article shows the experience with one of these strategies, cognitive pretests, in the Health Survey of the Basque Country. Potential response errors were identified through cognitive interviews to people of different sociodemographic and health profiles. Response errors were classified according to the components of the question-and-answer process and used to make proposals for improving the questionnaire. A total of 83 response errors were collected, specially related to errors of comprehension (40) and response (20). The article describes a process and gives visibility to a methodology not much known in our context, which in this case contributed to the identification of possible biases and errors in the design of questionnaires, and to the reflection on the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative methods for a better understanding of social reality.