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Task 2.4: Refine Questionnaire

You and your colleagues have been asked to refine the questionnaire based on the line listing data you received in the last task.

The steps below will walk you through this process.

1. Meet with your team to begin the task.
   
   
2. Review the email from Dr. Lyons to confirm your understanding of the task.
   
   
3. Download and review any relevant documents from previous tasks.
   
   
   • Each team member should download have a copy of the relevant documents from prior tasks, and keep his/her own notes. Each of you may notice different things, which will be helpful to share with each other and discuss.
     
     
4. Use the Resources link (above) to do additional research as needed throughout the task.
   

Refine the Questionnaire

1. Review your hypotheses in order to identify what areas of inquiry might be suggested by the patterns of commonality that you saw in the line listing. The revisions can explore these commonalities in more depth in order to facilitate more specific investigation.
   
   
• For any new areas of inquiry, develop a new set of questions to explore it, using the methods you used in the previous task.
  
  
2. Identify dead-end questions or sets of questions and be sure not to go down those paths in the new section of the questionnaire. You may have already identified some of these during your initial review of the materials, but these would be any questions or sets of questions that:
   
   
   • Gave a lot of negative or non-starter (non-meaningful) responses
     
     
   • Gave a lot of varied responses that did not show any meaningful pattern or expose commonalities between the case-patients
     
     
3. Highlight and attempt to expand on any high-yield questions, or anywhere responses showed a distinct pattern or commonality between the case-patients.
   
   
   • Highlighting might mean having multiple angles of the same question set so that you are able to confirm the results you see in this first set.
     
     
   • Expansion might include adding more specific questions in the new section that highlight the particular area of interest.
     
     
   Tip: Look at the sample questionnaires included in the Resources section (above) to look for ideas on expansion. Questions that weren't relevant to investigation earlier may be relevant now.
   

4. When you have finished drafting your questionnaire, practice reading it to your teammates, as you did in the earlier version. Remember, this will be used in phone interviews, so the length is important; if it is too long, you will lose the case-patients’ interest and investment in completing the questionnaire.
   
   
   • As noted previously, the general rule of thumb is not to exceed 10-15 minutes for a questionnaire. With the additional questions, the new Questionnaire is likely to exceed that limit, but this is acceptable within reason. Keep in mind that the people conducting the survey will be experienced in keeping the respondents on the phone to finish the questionnaire. This task is easier here because the respondents are cases and therefore more invested in responding.
     

Review and submit your work.

1. Review your work.
   
   
   • Did you thoroughly edit the questionnaire, taking into consideration all the results from the line listing, and expanding the questionnaire accordingly?
     
     
   • Did any additional questions included attempt to support or refute hypotheses that you have developed for the source of the outbreak?
     
     
   • Did you practice the questionnaire to test its length?
     
     
2. Submit your work.
   
   
   • Review the checklist located in the Submit Your Work section of this task to ensure completion of the task before submitting your deliverables to your mentor.
     
     
   • Please note: Only one set of deliverables need to be submitted per team. Any additional notes not captured in that set of deliverables should be retained by the team members for possible use in future tasks.

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Task 2.4 Resources

While Wikipedia is a valuable resource, unlike some other websites anyone can contribute to or modify the site (whether they're knowledgeable about the topic or not). As a result, the site is subject to constant change by questionable sources. Be sure to cross-check information on Wikipedia with other reputable sites to ensure accuracy.

Ask the Expert

Why might epidemiologists do follow-up questionnaires in an outbreak investigation?

General Resources

Hypotheses and the Scientific Method FAQ
This FAQ supports you in creating and testing scientific hypotheses, with examples and explanations.

Hypotheses for Epidemiology FAQ
General information on hypotheses and testing with emphasis on hypotheses for epidemiology studies.

Medline Plus
A medical dictionary from Medline Plus to help with scientific terms.

Coccidioidomycosis (cocci)

Cocci Overview from CDC
Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on cocci clinical features, transmission, risk groups, challenges, and other important info.

Cocci Overview 1
Includes common symptoms as well as tests and exams to detect the disease.

Cocci Overview 2
Includes x-rays of a cocci patient.

Cocci Overview 3
Includes a map of endemic areas (from Wikipedia).

Cocci Overview 4
Includes incubation periods, clinical signs, and communicability in both humans and animals from The Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University.

Developing Questionnaires

Developing Questionnaires for an Epi Study
Guidelines to developing a questionnaire with special considerations for studying the epidemiology of an illness.

Sample Questionnaire: FoodBorne
A sample questionnaire used for cases of foodborne illness.

Sample Questionnaire: Preeta
Questionnaire used in an investigation designed to collect information on a disease (CO – CDAD is Community Associated Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease) to figure out what the magnitude of a disease was in a certain community and determine risk factors.

Sample Questionnaire: Mycobacterium Mucogenicum
Outbreak investigation looking for the cause of a bloodstream infection to put a stop to it. The organism was known. In a hospital – questions are all around hospital exposures to find out who was getting infected and how they were getting infected.

General Questionnaire Design Guide 1
General information on designing questionnaires from Canada’s National Statistical Agency. About half way down the page are examples of different types of questions and how to avoid common wording errors.

General Questionnaire Design Guide 2
A general guide to designing questionnaires including different types of questions that can be used. General design considerations begin about half way down. Note: the site from a County Council in the United Kingdom so there may be some words/phrases that are not used in the United States.