Early-Stage Scoping in Establishment Surveys: A How-To Primer on This Qualitative Question Development Technique (303562)

Keywords: early-stage scoping, survey development, pretesting, establishment surveys, qualitative

Early-stage scoping (ESS) is a qualitative interview technique used to inform the development of survey questions. Generally, early-stage scoping is used for developing new content, “moving from concept to question,” but it has also been used to assist in revising existing questions. For use in establishment surveys, ESS is an adaptation of household methods (such as focus groups) that are not always practical in the business context, owing to issues like logistics, confidentiality policies, and subject matter that is often quite complicated and technical. The goals of early-stage scoping are to specify new concepts, understand what types of data are obtainable and bridge survey concepts with business respondents’ practices to facilitate steps in the business survey response process, which are not only cognitive but also task oriented. The method uses in-depth exploratory interviews, with targeted topics, conducted with a small number of representatives of the target population. In the establishment survey setting, we also investigate the structure, location, content, and meaning of associated data available in records, along with identifying the most knowledgeable respondent(s) and learning how to reach them. In this presentation, we will describe the goals and benefits of early-stage scoping, provide examples of how we have used it in a variety of different business surveys, and offer guidance for its use by others.