What sense do people make of a theory of planned behaviour questionnaire? A think-aloud study

• Published in: Journal of health psychology Vol. 14; no. 7; pp. 861 - 871
• Main Authors: Darker, Catherine D., French, David P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.10.2009; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Communication; England; Female; Health Behavior; Humans; Intention; Male; Measurement; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Physical activity; Planned behaviour theory; Psychological Theory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Questionnaires; Security management; Shoplifting; Social behaviour; Surveys and Questionnaires; Techniques and methods; Theory of planned behavior; Verbalization; Walking; Young Adult; England; theory of planned behaviour; think aloud; walking; measurement; Human; Evaluation; Questionnaire; Methodology; Psychometrics; Theory of planned behavior; Social cognition; Locomotion; Walking; Language; Cross sectional study; Motricity; Verbalization
• ISSN: 1359-1053; 1461-7277
• DOI: 10.1177/1359105309340983

This study aimed to understand the processes of interpretation of, and responses to, the task of completing a theory of planned behaviour (TPB) questionnaire. Forty-five adults verbalized their thoughts while completing a full TPB questionnaire on walking behaviour. On average, participants’ verbalizations indicated around 16 problems with the 52 questions. Further, problems as indentified from verbalizations were associated with increased endorsement of the middle option on the questionnaire. Normative and intention questions were found to be particularly problematic. The current standardized method to develop TPB measures systematically yields problematic questions, as indicated by both talk and questionnaire responses.