ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a general explanation of what cognitive interviewing is and how it fits within the overall toolbox of questionnaire evaluation methods. It covers some general issues that apply to the design of any cognitive interviewing study and addresses issues and decisions specific to the testing of a questionnaire that has migrated from paper and pencil to an ePRO format. Cognitive interviewing has emerged in the last twenty years or so as one of the predominant methods for identifying and correcting problems with draft survey questions. Cognitive interviewing can make important contributions to the development of electronic self-report or ePRO instruments as well. Some ePRO instruments will be new questionnaires that have never been administered in any form, while others will be electronic implementations of paper questionnaires that have already been through considerable development activity. Cognitive interviewing emerged as part of a subsequent movement to improve questionnaire evaluation through more elaborate self-report data.
