Page 239 - Demo

Experience sampling methods for mental health research in intellectual disability2377The items about positive and negative affect were clear to most participants. One participant indicated that the positive affect items were too similar:“Many people may find it difficult to distinguish ‘joyful’ from ‘cheerful’, these are too similar. This was not a problem for me, but it may be for others.” [P4]Response scales. This sub-theme refers to participants’ experiences with the Likert and visual-analogue response scales. Four participants preferred the visual-analogue scales over the Likert scales, because they did not have to think about the meaning of response items. As one participant mentioned:“It is better with the numbers, because you can just use a slider [from 0 to 10]. You do not have to think about the meaning of ‘a little bit’ or ‘very much’”. [P3]The Likert response scale included the word ‘neutral’, which was difficult to understand for two participants. Their direct support professional explained the word to them, after which they were able to continue with the questionnaire. One participant preferred the Likert response scale over the visual-analogue scale, because she found the items clearer:“Yes, these answers were much more clear to me. This was easier for me, because I did not have to think about: ‘What is a 6?’ [on the visual-analogue scale]. This was much easier for me.” [P4]Two participants did not like to respond to the questions about social contact, which were scheduled after the questions about affect. For these participants, these questions felt too much of a burden. Participants were divided about the use of open text fields in the questions about social contact. For one participant, typing was difficult. The other participants did not mention having difficulties with typing. One participant expressed the wish for including follow-up open questions about affect:Annelieke Muller sHL.indd 237 14-11-2023 09:07