FReDA-W2a - Questions about infection with and vaccination against COVID-19 (English Version)
General Information:
*Note: The items were tested in German. These are English translations of the original German wordings.
Introduction:
Now we are talking about vaccination against COVID-19 (Corona). [Nun geht es um die Impfung gegen COVID-19 (Corona).
Question Text:
To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? Inwieweit stimmen Sie jeder der folgenden Aussagen zu beziehungsweise nicht zu?]
Answer Categories:
Strongly disagree [Stimme überhaupt nicht zu]
Rather disagree [Stimme eher nicht zu]
Neither [Weder noch]
Rather agree [Stimme eher zu]
Strongly agree [Stimme voll und ganz zu]
Findings/Recommendations for Multi-Item Scale
Question 4 was asked of all 132 subjects. The cognitive online pretest was designed to determine whether the response distributions of the seven items indicated problems in answering the questions. On the other hand, the test persons were explicitly asked whether they thought the statements were formulated comprehensibly or whether one or more of them were unclear (N1_F4, see Appendix).
As shown in Table 5, there was no item nonresponse, i.e., all seven items were answered by all 132 subjects. In addition, respondents used the full range of the answer scale for all items. If we look at the frequency distributions of the first six items, we see that on average about 67% of the respondents are positive about vaccination (between 58% and 74% for the individual items), about 15% of the test persons are undecided or indifferent (between 11% and 22% for the individual items) and about 17% are critical of vaccination (between 12% and 21% for the individual items). The proportions of those in favor of, undecided about, and critical of vaccinations for children (item 7) are relatively balanced, which is not surprising in view of the comparatively small amount of data currently available on the advantages and disadvantages of such vaccinations.
Cronbach's alpha was calculated to determine the internal consistency of the 7-item scale. This internal consistency was excellent, with Cronbach's alpha = 0.90.
When probed about the comprehensibility of the individual statements, only two of the 132 respondents indicated that items were unclearly worded. One of them mentioned the item "If everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19, I don't need to get vaccinated too." without, however, explaining what was unclear about it. The other person did not specify their problems further. The remaining respondents did not express any difficulties regarding the statements.
Based on the respondents' inquiry and response behavior, there is no need to revise the question text or response options.
The results of the pretest do not indicate any problems with the question, so it can be left in its current form.
Cognitive Techniques:
Specific Probing
Item Text
Actively tested
I have full confidence that vaccination against COVID-19 is safe.[Ich habe vollstes Vertrauen, dass die Impfung gegen COVID-19 sicher ist.]
No
Vaccination against COVID-19 is unnecessary because COVID-19 is not a major threat.[Die Impfung gegen COVID-19 ist überflüssig, da COVID-19 keine große Bedrohung darstellt.]
No
Vaccines against COVID-19 were thoroughly tested before being released.[Die Impfstoffe gegen COVID-19 wurden gründlich getestet, bevor sie freigegeben wurden.]
No
COVID-19 vaccines frequently cause severe side effects.[Die Impfstoffe gegen COVID-19 verursachen häufig schwere Nebenwirkungen.]
No
If everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19, I don't need to get vaccinated too.[Wenn alle gegen COVID-19 geimpft sind, brauche ich mich nicht auch noch impfen lassen]
No
By vaccinating against COVID-19, I am contributing to the containment of the pandemic.[Mit einer Impfung gegen COVID-19 trage ich zur Eindämmung der Pandemie bei.]
No
COVID-19 vaccines are also safe for children.[Die Impfstoffe gegen COVID-19 sind auch für Kinder sicher.]
