ACORN Questionnaires

This web provides information on questionnaires and items that are available free of charge to interested parties. ACORN supports collaboration and encourages the sharing of data for research purposes.

Click here to view:ACORN Outcome Questionnaires Online Manual

Item tryouts

Jerry Seinfeld once likened the process of developing new jokes to trying out for a baseball team. He gave the new jokes a chance to workout with jokes that were already established performers. Eventually some proved good enough to make the team, but he was always giving new jokes a chance to show if they could make the grade, and the old jokes needed to keep working to keep their spot on the team.

This seems an apt metaphor for the process of questionnaire development. Taking inspiration from Seinfeld, items used in the various versions of the ACORN Outcomes Questionnaires are put through their paces by gathering data in clinical settings. Items that perform well see action on many different questionnaires; those that don't have the desired measurement properties end up sitting around in the ACORN Item Inventory taking up a little digital space but not otherwise causing any problems.

The result are questionnaires designed to be as brief and efficient as possible while maintaining high levels of reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change in the targeted population.

Warren Lambert, Ph.D.puts items through their paces... what he calls the "Item Torture Test". The Word file contains information on a sample of adult items put through the process. Download the MP3 file to listen to Warren explain the results (10 minute mini-lecture).

• Download Word file: Warren's Item Torture Test: Adult Outcome Questionnaire

• Download audio file: TortureTest_AOQ20_WL.WMA: 10 minute mini-lecture explaining results

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