Table 1.
Step | Purpose |
---|---|
1. Conduct a literature review | To ensure that the construct definition aligns with relevant prior research and theory and to identify existing survey scales or items that might be used or adapted |
2. Conduct interviews and/or focus groups | To learn how the population of interest conceptualizes and describes the construct of interest |
3. Synthesize the literature review and interviews/focus groups | To ensure that the conceptualization of the construct makes theoretical sense to scholars in the field and uses language that the population of interest understands |
4. Develop items | To ensure items are clear, understandable and written in accordance with current best practices in survey design |
5. Conduct expert validation | To assess how clear and relevant the items are with respect to the construct of interest |
6. Conduct cognitive interviews | To ensure that respondents interpret items in the manner that survey designer intends |
7. Conduct pilot testing | To check for adequate item variance, reliability and convergent/discriminant validity with respect to other measures |
Adapted with permission from Lippincott Williams and Wilkins/Wolters Kluwer Health: Gehlbach et al. (2010). AM last page: Survey development guidance for medical education researchers. Acad Med 85:925.