GESIS Pretest Database: Documentation Questions Details - Project "Best_FDM" - Questions on the Corona pandemic, religion, and household income (English Version)

General Information:

*Note: The item was tested in German. This is an English translation of the original German wording.

Question Text:

Have you ever had an infection with the coronavirus detected by a PCR test?

[Ist bei Ihnen schon einmal eine Infektion mit dem Corona-Virus durch einen PCR-Test nachgewiesen worden?]

Instruction:

INT: If respondent asks which coronavirus is meant, please answer „SARS-CoV-2“

[Falls Testperson nachfragt, welches Corona-Virus gemeint sei, bitte antworten: „SARS-CoV-2“]

Answer Categories:

Yes [Ja]
No [Nein]
Don't know [Weiß nicht]
No answer [Keine Angabe]

Recommendations:

The results of the pretest do not indicate any problems with the question, so it can be kept in its current form.

Cognitive Techniques:

Specific Probing

Findings for Question:

Intention of the question:
Question 1 is intended to capture whether the respondents have ever been infected with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). To avoid bias due to own “false diagnoses”, the question refers to a PCR test as evidence for the infection.

Findings:
Four of the twelve subjects answered in the affirmative and when probed, all four subjects confirmed that their infection had been detected by PCR testing:

“I first had a positive rapid test and then a positive PCR test.“
“I had a positive rapid test and then I went to the testing center and they did a PCR test. “
“It was more of a coincidence because my best friend tested positive with a rapid test. Then I bought a rapid test and it was also positive. And then I went to the test center. […] and I did a PCR test, which was also positive.”
“I did five rapid tests at home to be on the safe side. Of the five tests, four were positive. I then looked up a PCR testing center, made an appointment and had my PCR testing done there.”

The remaining eight respondents (correctly) answered question 1 in the negative. One of these subjects explained that they had already had several positive rapid tests, but not yet a positive PCR test. The other respondents stated that they had not yet been positive, neither by a rapid test nor by a PCR test.

Question Topic:

Public health/ Health impairments

Construct:

Coronavirus infection