The cognitive interview: contributions and limitations in questionnaire validation

Abstract

Accountability policies associated with test scores influence teachers' practices. A questionnaire was developed to measure socio-cognitive factors influencing pedagogical change among secondary school teachers in Ontario and Quebec. To adapt the questionnaire transculturally and validate it, cognitive interviews were conducted with nine participants by four interviewers. An observation grid was created based on two types of protocols: the think-aloud protocol and the prompting protocol. This study first relies on quantitative data such as interview duration, the number and type of probes. The study, then, uses qualitative data to investigate the quality and variety of their probes. Our results show that there is variation within these protocols, which can be categorized on a continuum into three interviewer roles: passive, moderate and active.