The application of graph theory to the development and testing of survey instruments

This paper focuses on the application of graph theory to the development and testing of survey research instruments. A graph-theoretic approach offers several advantages over conventional approaches in the structure and features of a specifications system for research instruments, especially for large, computer-assisted instruments. One advantage is to verify the connectedness of all components and a second advantage is the ability to simulate an instrument. This approach also allows for the generation of measures to describe an instrument such as the number of routes and paths. The concept of a 'basis' is discussed in the context of software testing. A basis is the smallest set of paths within an instrument which covers all link-and-node pairings. These paths may be used as an economic and comprehensive set of test cases for instrument testing.