Quais são algumas armadilhas comuns e práticas recomendadas para projetar e conduzir testes-piloto e pré-testes?

Common pitfalls in designing and conducting pilot tests and pretests include inadequate sample size, unclear objectives, and overlooking feedback. Best practices involve defining clear goals, selecting a representative sample, and ensuring realistic test conditions. Gathering detailed feedback and analyzing it thoroughly helps identify issues. Iterating the test based on findings and maintaining flexibility to make necessary adjustments ensure the pilot or pretest effectively informs the final implementation.

The purpose of a pilot is to make sure the survey is 100% perfect prior to sharing with a larger group of respondents. In short, you can test your questions, format, & structure of the survey questionnaire and the survey instrument. This is a great opportunity to make sure the respondents understand the questions and the flow of the survey works. I always like to think of it like you are taking a respondent on a journey where a story will unfold. Test the study on 5-10% of your total target audience and adjust accordingly. This is a great way to develop a great survey questionnaire.

A quick pilot test can resolve any issues that might occur. Often all you need is about 5-10% of your target audience to take the survey. This allows researchers to monitor two key components: 1. The survey instrument: is it working? Is it slow? Is the timeframe just right? 2.Respondent answers: are the respondents having issues understanding the survey? Is the questionnaire to complex? Is it too simple? Both areas can be fixed and adjusted after the pilot test which leads to a much stronger survey. This will also allow the survey respondents to have a much better experience.

In my opinion, pitfalls associated with pilot tests are numerous but can be reduced. Often I can tell which studies did a legitimate pilot test or not while reviewing their press release. On those occasions the press releases typically state 90-99% agree on a topic. To me, I see a poor pilot test.