Documenting the questionnaire design process using the Questionnaire Design and Documentation Tool (QDDT): Experiences from ESS Round 10

The European Social Survey has developed over the years a carefully designed model for cross-national questionnaire design, employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative pre-testing strategies during the design process of each rotating module to try and achieve optimal comparability across countries.

The design and development process lasts for almost two years – from the appointment of the successful question module design team through to the release of the source questionnaire for the round. It incorporates expert review from members of the ESS Core Scientific Team as well as the national teams, alongside coding item characteristics to predict their validity and reliability using the Survey Quality Predictor (SQP), cognitive interviewing, advance translation and quantitative testing on omnibus surveys and in a two-nation pilot survey.

In all rounds between ESS Round 4 (2008) and ESS Round 9 (2018), the design and development of rotating modules has been fully documented through a purposely designed question module design template, which shows the concepts underpinning the design of the module as well as the wording of the questions included in the survey.

In ESS Round 10 (2020), for the first time the design and documentation of rotating modules is taking place within the Questionnaire Design and Documentation Tool (QDDT) developed under the SERISS project, allowing to document, version and reuse elements following the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI).

The presentation focuses on early findings, challenges and opportunities deriving from applying a structured metadata approach to the documentation of a complex multi-stakeholder questionnaire design process for an established cross-national social survey. It also showcases the latest developments of the QDDT and how they are being applied to the ESS Round 10 questionnaire design process.