Developing questionnaires for educational research: AMEE Guide No. 87

Abstract

In this AMEE Guide, we consider the design and development of self-administered surveys, commonly called questionnaires. Questionnaires are widely employed in medical education research. Unfortunately, the processes used to develop such questionnaires vary in quality and lack consistent, rigorous standards. Consequently, the quality of the questionnaires used in medical education research is highly variable. To address this problem, this AMEE Guide presents a systematic, seven-step process for designing high-quality questionnaires, with particular emphasis on developing survey scales. These seven steps do not address all aspects of survey design, nor do they represent the only way to develop a high-quality questionnaire. Instead, these steps synthesize multiple survey design techniques and organize them into a cohesive process for questionnaire developers of all levels. Addressing each of these steps systematically will improve the probabilities that survey designers will accurately measure what they intend to measure.

Declaration of interest: Several of the authors are military service members. Title 17 U.S.C. 105 provides that “Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government”. Title 17 U.S.C. 101 defines a United States Government work as a work prepared by a military service member or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties.

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, or the Department of Defense.

Portions of this AMEE Guide were previously published in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and Academic Medicine and are used with the express permission of the publishers (Gehlbach et al. 2010; Artino et al. 2011; Artino & Gehlbach 2012; Rickards et al. 2012; Magee et al. 2013; Willis & Artino 2013).