Step V Once you are satisfied with the research instrument, pretest it with a few respondents from a population similar to the one you are going to study. The purpose of the pretest/field test is not to obtain information but to uncover problems with the instrument. If the instrument is an interview schedule, interview the pretest respondents to find out if they understood the questions. If a question is not understood, find out what the respondent did not understand. If the same problem is identified by a number of respondents, change the wording. If your instrument is a questionnaire, ask the pretest respondents to go through the questions with the aim of identifying any questions that are difficult to understand. Discuss the problems that they had in understanding or interpreting a question. In light of these discussions, if necessary, change the wording of questions with which pretest respondents have difficulties.