Have you had trouble sleeping recently?

[Hatten Sie in letzter Zeit Schlafstörungen?]

Interviewer: Read out the answer options only if necessary → note whether they have been read out!

[Interviewer: Antwortoptionen nur bei Bedarf vorlesen → notieren, ob sie vorgelesen wurden!]

I had trouble with sleep or recent change in pattern [Ich hatte Probleme mit dem Schlaf oder eine kürzliche Änderung des Schlafmusters]
I had no trouble sleeping [Ich hatte keine Probleme zu schlafen]

Question: The results of the cognitive interviews suggest that "minor" sleep problems such as snoring or having to go to the toilet at night are not considered in this question or are not rated as "sleep disorders" by several test persons. If these problems are to be treated as "sleep disorders", we recommend deleting question 13 and using question 14 in the questionnaire instead.

Response Options: Even if the interviewers had no problems sorting the respondents' answers into the given answer categories in the pretest, we still recommend to change the answer options to "Yes" and "No" (or at least to put a "Yes" or "No" in front of the answer options), since question 13 only allows these two answers.

Cognitive Techniques:

None

1. Do the interviewers have to read out the answer categories or can they sort the answers of the respondents doubtlessly into the answer categories?

In the run-up to the pretest, GESIS pointed out that the answer categories here do not fit the question, since the question only implies the answers "yes" or "no". It was therefore feared that the interviewers might have difficulties in clearly assigning the answers of the respondents to one of the answer categories. However, these fears could not be confirmed in the pretest.

2. Does the answer to question 13 match the answer to question 14?

Comparing the answers of the test persons to question 13 and question 14, it becomes clear that the test persons were thinking mainly of serious sleep problems in question 13: all five test persons who answered question 13 in the negative (TP 03, 04, 06, 07, 08) stated in question 14 that they suffered from at least one sleep problem (see Table 3).

Table 3. Conflicting answers between question 13 and question 14

Testperson	Antwort Frage 13	Antwort Frage 14
03	I had no trouble sleeping	I wake up in the middle of the night or early morning and am not able to fall asleep again; I have to get up to use the bathroom; I feel cold; I have fears or concerns
04	I had no trouble sleeping	I wake up in the middle of the night or early morning and am not able to fall asleep again; I have to get up to use the bathroom
06	I had no trouble sleeping	I have to get up to use the bathroom; I cough or snore loudly
07	I had no trouble sleeping	I cough or snore loudly
08	I had no trouble sleeping	I have to get up to use the bathroom

Public health/ Health impairments

Trouble sleeping