Improving intercultural comparative research by the application of cognitive techniques using the Internet in several countries

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Braun
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2010 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 161767778

The proliferation of large replicative international survey programs requires tools to monitor differences in item interpretation across countries and its change over time. Cognitive interviewing techniques, which have the potential to get at cognitive processes themselves and reveal differences in the interpretation of items, are rarely used and, if they are, mostly to detect translation errors. In addition, the application of cognitive techniques is mostly restricted to the laboratory, employing interviewers and, as a consequence, very small samples of respondents which do not allow to quantify the results. The proposed project will investigate the feasibility of using large supplemental Internet surveys as a relative inexpensive means to evaluate and improve the cross-national validity of measurement instruments. The focus will be on interpretation differences which are difficult to identify. The study will be conducted in Canada, Denmark, (western and eastern) Germany, Hungary, Spain and the United States. A net sample of 1,000 respondents per country/region is targeted. The aim of the study is to develop procedures to adapt probing techniques for use in Internet surveys. This technology could then be routinely employed in large-scale comparative survey projects to improve the quality of the data. The proposed technique overcomes the problems of current cognitive pretesting procedures while adding several advantages such as being internationally comparable due to its highly standardized procedures.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1292: Survey Methodology
• Participating Persons: Dr. Wolfgang Bandilla; Dr. Lars Kaczmirek