What sense do people make of a theory of planned behaviour questionnaire?

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.

[1]  M. Hogg,et al.  Group Norms and the Attitude-Behavior Relationship: A Role for Group Identification , 1996 .

[2]  M. Conner,et al.  Efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: a meta-analytic review. , 2001, The British journal of social psychology.

[3]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[4]  Linden J. Ball,et al.  Think-aloud protocols and the selection task: Evidence for relevance effects and rationalisation processes , 2005 .

[5]  Elizabeth A. Skewes,et al.  Item Nonresponse: Distinguishing between don't Know and Refuse , 2002 .

[6]  Jane Ogden,et al.  Some problems with social cognition models: a pragmatic and conceptual analysis. , 2003, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[7]  Richard Cooke,et al.  How well do the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behaviour predict intentions and attendance at screening programmes? A meta-analysis , 2008, Psychology & health.

[8]  A. Janssens,et al.  'It might happen or it might not': how patients with multiple sclerosis explain their perception of prognostic risk. , 2004, Social science & medicine.

[9]  D. French,et al.  What do people think about when answering questionnaires to assess unrealistic optimism about skin cancer? A think aloud study , 2008, Psychology, health & medicine.

[10]  I. Ajzen.  Constructing a TpB Questionnaire: Conceptual and Methodological Considerations , 2002 .

[11]  I. Higginson,et al.  The value of cognitive interviewing techniques in palliative care research , 2007, Palliative medicine.

[12]  I. Ajzen.  The theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[13]  A. Bowling.  Research Methods in Health , 1998 .

[14]  D. F. Marks,et al.  The Quest for Meaningful Theory in Health Psychology , 2008, Journal of health psychology.

[15]  Terry M. Coalter,et al.  Context, Cognition, and Common Method Variance: Psychometric and Verbal Protocol Evidence , 1996 .

[16]  Nanette Mutrie,et al.  Some work hard while others play hard , 2004 .

[17]  P. Sheeran,et al.  Predicting intentions to use condoms: a meta-analysis and comparison of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior. , 1999 .

[18]  M. Fishbein,et al.  Theories of reasoned action and planned behavior as models of condom use: a meta-analysis. , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[19]  D. Johnston,et al.  Assessment and measurement in health psychology , 2004 .

[20]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data, Rev. ed. , 1993 .

[21]  S. Biddle,et al.  A meta-analytic review of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior in physical activity , 2002 .

[22]  Menno D. T. de Jong,et al.  Retrospective vs. concurrent think-aloud protocols: Testing the usability of an online library catalogue , 2003, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[23]  S. Sutton.  Predicting and Explaining Intentions and Behavior: How Well Are We Doing? , 1998 .

[24]  M. Deaves.  Walking to health. , 2015, Harvard men's health watch.

[25]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[26]  Mark Conner,et al.  Asking questions changes behavior: mere measurement effects on frequency of blood donation. , 2008, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[27]  H. Groen,et al.  Small-cell lung cancer patients are just ‘a little bit’ tired: response shift and self-presentation in the measurement of fatigue , 2007, Quality of Life Research.

[28]  M. Conner,et al.  The theory of planned behaviour and health behaviours. , 1996 .

[29]  Frank F Eves,et al.  Are beliefs elicited biased by question order? A theory of planned behaviour belief elicitation study about walking in the UK general population. , 2007, British journal of health psychology.

[30]  Daniel B. Wright,et al.  How response alternatives affect different kinds of behavioural frequency questions , 1997 .

[31]  Jeremy N. Morris,et al.  Walking to Health , 1997, Sports medicine.

[32]  M. M. Johnson,et al.  Thinking about strategies during, before, and after making a decision. , 1993, Psychology and aging.

[33]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Prediction of goal directed behaviour: Attitudes, intentions and perceived behavioural control , 1986 .

[34]  J. Krosnick.  The role of attitude importance in social evaluation: a study of policy preferences, presidential candidate evaluations, and voting behavior. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  J. Krosnick.  Response strategies for coping with the cognitive demands of attitude measures in surveys , 1991 .

[36]  Stephen Sutton,et al.  What Do People Think about When They Answer Theory of Planned Behaviour Questionnaires? , 2007, Journal of health psychology.