Maximum Information, Minimum Discomfort (MIMO). Shortening questionnaires to take care of participants in sport psychology

Abstract

Responding to a large number of items could be a great burden for the participants, which can worsen the quality of the data collected. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to describe the method of Maximum Information, Minimum Discomfort (MIMO in Spanish) to develop questionnaire short-forms in sport psychology. Our protocol suggests four phases to create the short-form of an existing questionnaire. Specifically, we recommend: (a) selecting an initial pool of items based on theory-driven, data-driven and comprehension-related criteria (Phase I), (b) refining the short-form with the evaluation of a panel of experts (Phase II), (c) assessing target population’s understanding of the items (Phase III), and (d) evaluating factor structure, reliability and validity evidence based on relation to other variables of the short-form (Phase IV). We describe each phase (i.e., justification, procedure and participants involved) and then we present a real case showing how these phases could be carried out. In sum, the MIMO method explains how to develop short-forms that take care of participants, assess the core of constructs, minimize the loss of psychometric properties and increase the quality of the data collected.