Pre-Testing Research Data Collection Instruments
The tool or instrument of data collection namely the schedule or the questionnaire should be pre-tested before adopted for data collection on the study. Pre-testing simply means, testing the validity, reliability, practicability and sensitivity of the tool before it is used for actual data collection. The only way to gain assurance that questions are unambiguous is to try them on a selected small group of prospective respondents. Process of Pre-testing Pre-testing can be done in parts. Different sub-parts in the main part of the questionnaire/schedule can be differently pre-tested. So a series of small pre-test on different units of the tool can be done. A full scale pre-test of the whole tool can be done if needed finally or in lieu of the series of pre-tests is small bits. Pre-testing must be done on a sample that is representatives of the population. May be 10 to 12 respondents for pre-testing Continue reading