A structured questionnaire with 57 variables potentially associated with C. burnetii seropositivity was completed for each herd by interviews with farmers.
The authors supported their observations with the feedback given by farmers.
The design of the questionnaire was based on similar published studies, and local farmers and veterinarians were consulted for validation and readability.
The reliability of the questionnaire was established by interviewing 25 farms not included in this study and retesting in the same farms after a month.
The reliability value obtained(total number of questions with the same answer in the two inquiries/total number of questions in the questionnaire) was 0.87.
The variables included were grouped bythe following topics: