Information for Pretesting the Message

• Keeping Pretest Costs Down
• Sample Language: Benefits of Consuming Fish

Keeping Pretest Costs Down

• Borrow questions from other pretests when possible.
• Work with partner organizations to recruit participants and conduct tests (e.g., an African-American church, patient educators, a clinic).
• Pay for and use transcripts when conducing focus groups so that FCA programs can review the results and make decisions rather than paying an analyst to do so.
• When testing with a large number of respondents:
  • Keep the questions short and to the point.
  • Use as many close-ended or multiple choice questions as possible (for easier tabulation analysis).
  • Develop codes in advance for quantifying responses to open-ended questions.
  • Avoid overtesting (test to answer questions, not to gather the views of a large number of respondents).

Sample Language: Benefits of Consuming Fish

When properly prepared, fish provide a diet high in protein and low in saturated fats. Many doctors suggest that eating 8 ounces of fish each week is helpful in preventing heart disease. Almost any kind of fish may have real health benefits when it replaces a high-fat source of protein in the diet. You can get the health benefits of fish and reduce unwanted contaminants by following this advisory.