Cognitive Interviewing in Mixed Research

This chapter illustrates how cognitive interviewing studies, might be combined with quantitative methodologies in order to reveal a more detailed picture of question performance that neither methodology could portray on its own. It describes the history and key components of mixed research. The chapter also describes how mixed research can inform question evaluation, particularly as it applies to cognitive interviewing. Finally, it presents three examples of mixed research involving cognitive interviewing. The examples illustrate how mixed research can provide a broader understanding of question performance, thereby allowing for better decisions regarding question design and data quality—that is, whether a question should be altered or if the resulting variable should be utilized or interpreted in a particular way.