Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) 
Evaluation Primer on Health Risk Communication Programs

Guidelines for Analyzing Pretest Results

(AED, JHU and PN 1993)

Remember these guidelines as you first plan, and then consider the meaning of the pretest findings.

• Write a clear statement of purpose prior to the pretest.
  • Make sure that the questions asked relate to the purpose.
  • Then use the purpose statement to analyze the findings.
• Consider what was found and what was not found; sometimes what is not stated by participants is very important.
• If the answers to some questions are unclear, consider more or different types of pretesting.

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