Il pretest del questionario strutturato. Un approccio integrato

Abstract. Mixed methods approach has gained a broad consensus among social science scholars, who often regard it as a “new paradigm” or the “third way” able to offer new and convincing answers to the never-ending debate between quantitative and qualitative approaches to social research. In the first part of the article we reconstruct the theoretical reflection on this topic, showing how the mixed methods research is a well-rooted practice, dating back to the times of Paul Lazarsfeld and Rensis Likert. Then, we present some results of a methodological study in which, in a mixed method approach three questionnaire pretesting techniques – expert evaluation, cognitive interview, and verbal interaction coding – is used to evaluate a structured questionnaire designed to study public opinions and attitudes.