Psychological concerns in questionnaire research

The questionnaire survey is a common and important tool in nursing research. However, there are many psychologically related issues and limitations which may not always be considered. This paper brings these issues together under four headings: theory-building; validity of self-report; measurement and analysis — that is, spanning the formulation of the research, the collection and analysis of data through to the interpretation of the results. In planning questionnaire research the explanatory limitations must be recognised, the aims must be linked directly to the measures, other methods should be considered as checks, and, most importantly, professional advice should be sought during the planning.