2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

326209
Increasing the rigor and reliability in team based qualitative research: Q-Bank and Q-Notes


Monday, November 2, 2015

Candace Sibley, MSPH, Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD
Sheba Dunston, Ed.D, MPH, CHES, Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD
Justin Mezetin, Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD
The importance of effective qualitative research is critical. The advent of using computer assisted qualitative software to increase rigor and effectiveness has grown over the past three decades. Common difficulties in team based qualitative research include the refinement of transparency of the research and the systematic organization of codes and themes. The Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory (QDRL) at the National Center for Health Statistics developed and manages two innovative tools to increase the reliability and accuracy of the research and reporting process for conducting and analyzing qualitative data aimed at increasing data quality of surveys.

The QDRL created Q-Notes, a software program that supports the structured collection and analysis of cognitive interview data. This software provides an audit trail which increases the defensibility of each finding through linking it to the original source, a video of the interview that is embedded within the application. The development of Q-Notes was guided by key theoretical foundations of qualitative research, and customized for cognitive interviewing. The QDRL has also developed Q-Bank, a research tool and repository of evaluated questions and scientific reports about Federal surveys, which combines the rich knowledge of the international community of qualitative researchers. This tool allows survey designers to draw on existing knowledge of questions on issues that range from sexual identity to tobacco use. This presentation addresses threats that compromise the rigor and reliability of qualitative research aimed at strengthening the data quality of large scale surveys.

Learning Areas:

Biostatistics, economics
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Discuss tools that combat the challenges facing the cognitive interviewing/survey design field. Describe how Q-Notes and Q- Bank can assist question evaluation researchers conduct their work in a streamlined and systematic way, as well as interpret survey questions and understand errors. Explain how Q-Notes and Q-Bank can assist question evaluation researchers in combating common threats to the rigor and realiablity of qualitative research.

Keyword(s): Evaluation, Statistics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Candace serves at the Questionnaire Design Research Lab at NCHS as an Associate Service Fellow/ Principal Investigator. Her duties include conducting and analysis of question evaluation data with the aim of improving the performance of survey items in various topical areas. Candace has 10 years of experience as a mixed methods researcher, evaluator and methodologist.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3017.0: Current Techniques in Public Health Data Analysis with Applications