The three items of question 5 were answered by all 240 subjects, again using the full range of the response scale for all items (see Table 6 and Figure 1). The subjects felt most affected by storms (M = 6.24, SD = 2.48), followed by heavy rain/floods (M = 5.44, SD = 2.61) and heat waves/drought (M = 5.08, SD = 2.75).
The aim of the pretest was to examine how difficult it was for the subjects to select a value on the 11-point scale and whether an answer scale with fewer scale points would be easier to answer. The corresponding cognitive probes (N1_F5, see Appendix) were asked of the 124 test persons who were (randomly) assigned to Group 1. About one-third of these subjects were asked about items a, b, and c, respectively.
The subjects' answers to the cognitive probes did not provide any indication that the number of scale points should be reduced, that is, no subject stated that answering the question or the individual items would have been easier with fewer scale points.
Across the items, it was found that the reasons given by the respondents matched the scale values selected in each case and that the high scale values were selected in particular when extreme weather events had already occurred (e.g., floods or fires).
| Itemtext | Aktiv getestet |
|---|---|
Hitzewelle/DürreItemtext:Empfehlungen:
The results of the pretest do not indicate any problems with the item, so it can be left in its current form.
Befund zum Item:For item a, test persons who selected lower values mostly justified their answers by saying that heat waves or drought had not yet occurred at their place of residence, or had occurred only rarely, and that they had noticed only little change in the average annual temperatures. Test persons who selected higher values, on the other hand, argued that they had registered a noticeable increase in temperatures in recent years and that their place of residence frequently experiences warm winters and summers with little precipitation:
Thema der Frage:
Umwelt
Konstrukt:Affected by climate change
|
Ja |
Starkregen/ÜberschwemmungenItemtext:Empfehlungen:
The results of the pretest do not indicate any problems with the item, so it can be left in its current form.
Befund zum Item:For item b, those respondents who selected lower values explained that there had not been any floods at their place of residence so far, but only heavy rain from time to time, if at all. Test persons who selected higher values, on the other hand, justified this by saying that they had already experienced flooding at their place of residence or had registered an increase in heavy rain events:
Thema der Frage:
Umwelt
Konstrukt:Affected by climate change
|
Ja |
StürmeItemtext:Empfehlungen:
The results of the pretest do not indicate any problems with the item, so it can be left in its current form.
Befund zum Item:For item c, lower values were justified by the fact that no storms had occurred at the place of residence so far, while test persons who selected a high value stated that this had already been the case for them and that they would perceive an increase in storms:
Thema der Frage:
Umwelt
Konstrukt:Affected by climate change
|
Ja |
