The Anatomy of Survey Questions

• DOI: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2010.04.013
• Publication Date: 2010-06-11T11:03:08Z
• Authors: Victoria P. Niede...; Deborah Mattheus
• Keywords: Commonwealth; West virginia

Did you ever receive a survey where the questions were confusing, conflicting, or just plain incomprehensible?Doyouhave an interest in developing a survey for your practice setting or patient population and do not know where to begin? Or are you thinking about conducting an evidence-based or research project using a survey? When survey questions are too difficult to answer, the wording is confusing to respondents, or the questions are inappropriate, the outcome can be misleading and fail to reveal accurate data pertaining to the population and research topic. Developing questions for a survey is not a simple process; it is a task that requires skill, organization,