One key element in conducting useful research is gathering reliable information. And the basis for doing that is designing questions and questionnaires that get the kind of information from which the researcher can draw valid conclusions. When one looks at a completed questionnaire or the results of a valid study, he or she is often tempted to say, "That's not difficult to do," but that temptation quickly passes after a few minutes of closer analysis. That's about all it takes to realize that

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... signing a good question and good questionnaire requires more thought and time than one might originally think. There are an almost infinite variety of things to think about and to do correctly to avoid the kinds of errors that can make scores of hours of work worthless. This article looks at some of the basic building blocks of a structured interview, points out potential pitfalls, and suggests ways for the researcher to avoid them, in order to produce a set of questions that have the best possibility of generating reliable, accurate data on the topics of interest. SOME BASIC TERMS The first thing that a new researcher needs to know is some standard terminology. This knowledge helps that person understand other concepts to be introduced and puts him or her in a position to communicate with more experienced people in the discipline. Data-collection instrument (DCI)-A document containing questions presented in a systematic, highly precise fashion. The DCI's purpose is to enable the evaluator to obtain uniform data that can be compared, summed, and, if it is quantitative, subjected to additional statistical analysis. Structured interview-One that uses a DCI to gather data, either by telephone or face to face. In a structured interview, the evaluator asks the same questions of numerous individuals in a precise manner, offering each individual the same set of possible responses. (In contrast, an unstructured interview contains many open-ended questions that are not asked in a precise, structured way.) Computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)-A form of telephone interview where the DCI is stored in a computer and the interviewer records responses directly into the computer.