General Information:
*Note: The item was tested in German. This is an English translation of the original German wording.*
Question Text:
How close are you to that person?
[Wie nah stehen Sie der Person?]
Answer Categories:
Not at all close [Überhaupt nicht nah]
Not close [Nicht nah]
Close [Nah]
Very close [Sehr nah]
Recommendations:
All participants based their answers on their emotional closeness to people in their social circle, and their explanations aligned with the selected response options. Although two participants reported difficulty distinguishing between the response options “Not close” and “Close,” they were still able to assign all individuals to one of the response options. Therefore, we recommend leaving the question in its current form.
Category Selection Probing, Comprehension Probing, Specific Probing
Findings for Question:
Testing objectives:
Question 5 was asked of all 25 individuals previously mentioned in Question 1. The purpose of the cognitive probing was to examine how the participants justified their answers to the question and whether they referred to emotional closeness. In addition, the goal was to determine whether the participants felt the response options were appropriate for expressing emotional closeness to others.
Findings:
The participants used the entire range of the scale, with the response option “Not at all close” being selected least frequently and the response option “Close” being selected most frequently.
Do the justifications align with the selected response options, and do the participants refer to their emotional closeness to the people in their network?
In their responses, all participants referred to their emotional closeness to the people in their social circle, and their justifications matched the selected response options. The participants explained that they were in close contact with people to whom they were “close” or “very close” and that they would discuss, among other things, very personal matters with them:
- “Because he’s my husband and we’re very close because of that. Because we really love each other.” (TP01, answer: “Very close”)
- “Because he’s my cousin, and for one thing, we see each other a lot and also take care of my grandparents together. I spend a lot of time with him and know a lot about him. I consider this a close relationship.” (TP08, answer: “Close”)
- “[Person] is one of my best friends here. She lives a five-minute walk away, and we share really intimate things with each other. She’s always there for me when I’m feeling down, and I’m there for her, too. So you can always drop by and get a hug.” (TP09, answer: “Very close”)
In contrast, relationships with people whom the participants classified as “Not close” or “Not close at all” were described as more distant and less frequent:
- “It’s more like small talk, with a bit of a slight sense of distance.” (TP03, answer: “Not close”)
- “She’s really just an acquaintance, so to speak. We know each other, we say hello, and we chat.” (TP04, answer: “Not close”)
- “He’s a neighbor I don’t really have anything to do with. I see him about once a week, and we don’t really say more than ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’” (TP08, answer: “Not close at all”)
Are the phrasings of the response options suitable for expressing emotional closeness to other people?
The majority of participants (n = 7) stated that they found the phrasing appropriate for expressing emotional closeness to other people. Three participants reported having some difficulty placing people on the scale, with two of them explaining that they felt a middle category was missing:
- “Maybe an intermediate category would be useful here, between ‘not close’ and ‘close.’ I don’t know what to call it. I’ve now sorted most people into ‘close’ and ‘not close.’ With another category, I could have made an even finer distinction here. ‘Close’ mainly included family and friends, while ‘not close’ included people from work.” (TP08)
- “[…] there are people I’m close to, but I don’t see them that often, and that’s when I realized I needed a middle category. When I see them, I feel close to them. But I don’t see them as often as others, relatively speaking. That’s why I found it hard to classify them into either the ‘not close’ or ‘close’ categories.” (TP09)
Question Topic:
Society & social affairs/ Relationships
Construct:
Relationship strength (emotional closeness)
