E-Voting Adoption Instrument: Enhancing Validity Through Cognitive Interviews

Digital governance has been transformed with the development of electronic voting (e-voting) which offers prospective advantages to the electoral process, making it more transparent, efficient, and accessible. Although the significance of e-voting has been recognized worldwide, developing countries seem to struggle with its adoption due to numerous factors, primarily the dearth of questionnaire pre-testing methods for ensuring the reliability and validity of the collected data. The current study thus conducts cognitive interviews for the purpose of pre-testing a proposed instrument for measuring the adoption of e-voting amongst prospective voters. The interview participants were selected via purposive sampling which enables the researcher to identify and resolve any vagueness, misinterpretations, and culturally immaterial items in the questionnaire. It was discovered that cognitive interviews are valuable for revealing the participants’ thinking process and enhancing comprehension of the questionnaire items. The instrument’s clarity and relevance were enhanced via adjustments according to the participant feedbacks, hence boosting its construct validity. The practical significance of solid pre-testing methods is underlined in this study, especially in the examination of technology adoption. This study’s refinement of the survey design improves the robustness of e-voting adoption assessment tools, thus aiding policymakers and stakeholders in making informed decisions. These are key towards nurturing voters’ trust and perceived usability of e-voting systems, particularly in the distinct sociocultural setting of developing nations.