survey-instrument-verification

name	survey-instrument-verification
description	Manuscripts evolve terminology that may not match what was actually administered:
lastReviewed	2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z

Survey Instrument Verification

The Problem

Manuscripts evolve terminology that may not match what was actually administered:

Manuscript says: "We measured perceived safety using a 5-point scale"
Raw data shows: 7-point scale with different anchors

Manuscript says: "Participants rated their agreement with 12 items"
Raw data shows: 14 items (2 were dropped but not documented)

The Solution

Before editing survey-related content, verify against raw data.

1. Check Scale Parameters

Manuscript Claims	Verify In Data
Number of points	Actual min/max values
Anchor labels	Codebook or data dictionary
Number of items	Count of columns/variables
Response options	Unique values in data

2. Verify Item Wording

Manuscript Appendix: "How safe do you feel walking at night?"
Actual survey item: "How safe do you feel walking alone at night?"
                                         ^^^^^
                                    Missing word!

Compare exact wording:

• Survey instrument file (if available)
• Qualtrics/SurveyMonkey export
• IRB-approved protocol

3. Check for "Exactly As Administered" Claims

If an appendix claims "items shown exactly as administered":

# Line-by-line comparison
diff manuscript-appendix.txt original-survey.txt

This claim is a testable hypothesis — test it.

Verification Checklist

• Scale points match (5-point? 7-point? Likert?)
• Anchor labels match ("Strongly agree" vs "Completely agree")
• Item count matches (after exclusions?)
• Item wording is verbatim (if claimed)
• Response coding matches (1-5 vs 0-4)

When to Apply

• Editing methods sections describing surveys
• Reviewing appendices with survey items
• Any manuscript with quantitative survey data

Tags

academic surveys verification data-quality