Using cognitive pretesting in scale development for Parkinson's disease: the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) example.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cognitive pretesting, a qualitative step in scale development, precedes field testing and assesses the difficulty of instrument completion for examiners and respondents. Cognitive pretesting assesses respondent interest, attention span, discomfort, and comprehension, and highlights problems with the logical structure of questions/response options that can affect understanding. In the past this approach was not consistently used in the development or revision of movement disorders scales.

Methods

We applied qualitative cognitive pretesting using testing guides in development of the Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). The guides were based on qualitative techniques, verbal probing and "think-aloud

SUBMITTER: Tilley BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5086096 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature