The Survey Methods Core (SMC) assists with selecting and/or designing survey data collection instruments and procedures.
The SMC assists with:
- All phases of survey process, including testing recall, comprehension and alternative wording for survey instruments
- Assessing various interviewing techniques and respondent incentives
- Comparing data collection modalities.
- The selection of published instruments and the development of new, study-specific measures.
The Core also provides assistance and expertise in:
- Cognitive interviewing, including focus groups, think-aloud sessions, and other methods used to study respondent and interviewer reactions to survey questions, response categories, and procedures.
- Producing completed survey forms and their electronic processing.
The SMC provides the following services:
Consultation on:
- Study design of survey methods
- Selection of specific survey measures,
- Selection of format and scheduling of survey administration, and sampling strategies for survey research.
- Information about the scoring, analysis, and interpretation of survey measures commonly used in cancer research.
- Advice and consultation on qualitative research techniques
- Developing interview and focus group guides, recruiting, data analysis,
- Grant and publication writing of qualitative results.
Survey Pretesting
- Pretesting is conducted using the Questionnaire Appraisal System developed by the Behavioral Surveillance Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Investigators are provided with tools and with tips for obtaining subjects for pretesting as well as the development of a protocol for pretesting. Actual pretesting is performed by the investigator.
Survey Production and Processing
The Core:
- Transforms printed surveys into forms that can be read by an optical scanner using Teleform by Verity software, a high-accuracy content capture system for automatically processing paper-based forms and document content
- Provides four computer workstations networked to two scanners equipped with the Teleform licenses to operate the four modules that make up the application