Course detail

Welcome to Survey and questionnaire – design and validation

Program: Health Care, Health Promotion and Organizations (HCHPO) (also relevant for EB and PHC)

Description: The course focuses on the use of survey design and questionnaires in health science and give participants an understanding of strengths and limitations of survey as a study design and the research questions that surveys can and cannot answer.  

The choice of study population, sampling and data collection procedures will be discussed as well as the advantages and disadvantages of use of foreign language, standardized, previously validated, or self-constructed questionnaires; qualifying participants to think critically and make well-founded methodological and ethical decisions in their own study.  

Furthermore, participants will learn how to construct a questionnaire with high validity and reliability, focusing on both the writing of clear and unbiased questions and the choice of suitable options for answering as well as different types of measurement scales. Methods for evaluating reliability and validity will be presented. Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of thorough testing of questionnaires and of quantitative as well as qualitative methods for this purpose.  

During the course, lectures and discussions will be mixed with group work and individual exercises, allowing participants to develop, test, and discuss questionnaire questions and measurement scales relevant to their own study.  

Prerequisites: None

Form of evaluation: Active participation and presentation of own problems related to questionnaire design and handling. 

Key literature: Selected book chapters and papers.

Organizer: Associate professor Henrik Bøggild, HST 

Lecturers: Associate professor Henrik Bøggild (HST), assistant professor Britta Jensen (HST), associate professor Lone Jørgensen (DCM) and post doc Marie Germund Nielsen (DCM) 

ECTS: 3.0

Date: 26., 27., 28. & 29. Oct. 2026 (8.30-15.30)

Place: Aalborg University

City: Aalborg

Maximal number of participants: 30

Open for enrolment: 26. Jun. 2026

Deadline for enrolment: 5. Oct. 2026

Important information concerning PhD courses: There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course.

To attend courses at the Doctoral School in Medicine, Biomedical Science and Technology you must be enrolled as a PhD student.

You may find more information in our FAQ: https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/local/page/faq 

For inquiries not described in the FAQ, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk. When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.