Weeks 1–2
01 / 04Behaviour mapping and questionnaire drafting
Agree target behaviours and groups, draft items for each stage and set the sample by district and group.
- Target behaviours
- Draft K, A and P items
- Sample design
Services · Behaviour research
What people know, what they believe, and what they actually do, measured separately
Bharat Survey is a KAP survey agency for NGOs, CSR foundations, health and WASH programmes, government departments and researchers planning behaviour change work. A knowledge, attitude and practice survey shows where the gap sits: people who have not heard the message, people who heard it but do not believe it, and people who believe it but cannot act on it. We design the tool, run private interviews in the local language and report each gap separately.
- Knowledge, attitude and practice items kept distinct
- Tools piloted and adapted to local language and context
- Private, consent-first interviews on sensitive topics
- Baseline and end-line rounds on the same scale
3,000
Target households
2,184
Visits
1,962
Completed
1,871
Accepted
Daily accepted interviewsLast 12 days
Knowledge itemsAttitude scalesReported practiceObserved practiceHealth and hygieneNutrition and WASHBehaviour change baselinesPrivate interviews
Three different questions
The three parts need different question types. Mixing them in one scale is the most common design error in KAP studies.
K
Knowledge
Factual items with right and wrong answers, such as how a disease spreads or when to wash hands. Unprompted recall is asked before any prompted options, so the answer is not handed to the respondent.
A
Attitudes
Agreement scales on beliefs, norms and perceived risk, such as whether boiling water is worth the effort. Items are worded both positively and negatively to reduce agreement bias.
P
Practices
What people did, recently and specifically: the last time a child had diarrhoea, what was given. Where possible, reported practice is checked by observation, such as soap present at the handwashing place.
Designing the tool
We start from the behaviours your programme wants to change and work backwards to the knowledge and attitudes that plausibly drive them. Standard items from published guides, such as WHO's guide to developing KAP surveys, are a starting point, not a template. Each item is translated, back-translated and piloted, and items that most respondents misunderstand or all answer the same way are dropped or rewritten.
Sensitive topics, including menstrual hygiene, family planning, tuberculosis stigma or domestic violence, need same-gender interviewers, a private setting and a clear consent script. Where a question could put a respondent at risk, it is removed or moved to a self-completed section on the tablet.
Scoring and analysis
Knowledge items are scored and summed; attitudes are analysed as scales with reliability checked; practices are reported as the share doing the behaviour. The report shows the gap between each stage, by district, gender, age and other groups the programme targets, so communication can be aimed where it is needed.
Common KAP topics
- Handwashing and sanitation
- Safe drinking water
- Infant and young child feeding
- Tuberculosis and anaemia
- Immunisation
- Menstrual hygiene
- Financial literacy
- Climate-smart farming
A typical study
Week 3
02 / 04Community health worker and enumerator pilot in a non-sample village
Test wording, timing and sensitivity; drop or rewrite items that do not work.
- Cognitive testing
- Timing
- Sensitive item review
Weeks 4–6
03 / 04Private household interviews on an offline tablet
Same-gender interviewers where needed, consent recorded, GPS and time on each record, observation items where agreed.
- Consent first
- Observation checks
- Back-checks
Weeks 7–8
04 / 04Gap analysis and communication recommendations
Report the knowledge, attitude and practice gaps by group, with recommendations separated from findings.
- Gap charts
- Group comparisons
- Baseline values for end-line
Our view on KAP findings
Combined studies
Public and CSR service programmes often want to know both whether people changed behaviour and whether they were satisfied with the service that asked them to. The two can share one visit if kept distinct.
| KAP module | Satisfaction module | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Did people's knowledge, beliefs and behaviour change? | Was the service good enough to use again? |
| Typical items | Knowledge of the behaviour, perceived barriers, reported and observed practice | Access, waiting time, staff respect, information received |
| Question format | Scored knowledge items, agreement scales, recent-event questions | Rating scales and specific service experiences |
| Who answers | Target group, whether or not they used the service | People who used the service |
| How results are used | Adjust messages and remove barriers | Fix delivery and grievance handling |
Before you commission
Programme team decides
- Which behaviours matter most
- Which groups must be reported separately
- Whether an end-line is planned
- Who will act on the findings
We propose
- Sample size per group
- Item list with sources
- Observation items where useful
- Consent and safeguarding protocol
- Analysis and scoring plan
Not the right fit if
- You need clinical or laboratory measures such as haemoglobin tests
- You want to prove a campaign caused behaviour change without a comparison
- The questions put respondents at legal or social risk
- You need results from a few days of fieldwork across many districts
A good fit if
- Designing a behaviour change campaign
- Setting baselines for health, WASH or nutrition programmes
- Checking whether messages reached women and marginalised groups
- Pairing behaviour data with service satisfaction
NGO and CSR solutions
Surveys and software for programmes.
Learn moreImpact evaluation
When you need to attribute change.
Learn moreMonitoring and evaluation
Ongoing programme M&E.
Learn moreNGO data collection app
Run your own KAP rounds.
Learn moreNGO M&E software
Track indicators over time.
Learn moreContact
Share topic, districts and groups.
Learn moreFAQ
Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
What is a KAP survey?
A knowledge, attitude and practice survey measures what a population knows about a topic, what it believes, and what it does. It is used before and after behaviour change programmes to find which of the three is holding people back and to set baselines for later comparison.
How many respondents does a KAP survey need?
It depends on the practices being measured, the precision you need and how many groups must be reported separately. A single district estimate needs fewer interviews than separate figures for women and men in several districts. We share the calculation with the proposal.
Can reported practices be trusted?
Reported practice tends to be overstated for socially desirable behaviours. We ask about specific recent events rather than habits, and where possible add observation items, such as soap and water at the handwashing place, to check reports.
Can a KAP survey show whether our campaign worked?
Only partly. Comparing a baseline and an end-line KAP survey shows how knowledge, attitudes and practices changed. To say the campaign caused that change, you also need a comparison area that did not receive it, measured at the same times. We can design both rounds so that comparison is possible.
Do you use a standard KAP questionnaire?
We start from published items where they fit, such as those in WHO's KAP survey guide, and adapt them to your behaviours, language and context. Every tool is piloted before fieldwork.
India Nationwide, Hindi-first
Share the topic, target groups and districts. We will reply with a draft item list, sample design and timeline.