Testing objectives:
Question 6 was asked for each of the six individuals previously selected in Question 2. The purpose of this cognitive probe was to determine whether the participants found it difficult to report stress or difficulties in their relationships with others in a survey.
Findings:
As shown in Table 5, six participants stated that there were people with whom they occasionally found contact to be stressful or difficult. Four participants stated that this was not the case for them.
Were there any difficulties in answering the question?
With the exception of one participant, all respondents stated that they found answering the question “somewhat easy” or “very easy.” The participant who indicated that she found answering the question “somewhat difficult” explained that she first had to consider which aspects of the relationship might be perceived as stressful or difficult. The participant selected two people from their social circle and explained their choices as follows:
“Because you have to think about it: What does ‘difficult’ mean? Is it what the person does, or how they are? It depends on what you’re referring to. I mean, [NAME]—she’s my coworker—she can be a bit difficult at work sometimes, I mean, her attitude or something like that. […] And [NAME], because she sometimes turns things into problems that I don’t even see as problems. So you can’t always say what you’re thinking.” (TP 02)
