Is there a difference in floor effects and reliability between intermixed and fixed-order items in a questionnaire?

Objective We tested whether intermixing mental health items with addressing comfort and capability could limit the floor effects noted when is measured in musculoskeletal specialty care. Methods One hundred 31 people seeking care for upper lower extremity conditions were randomized to complete randomly ordered, unlabeled intermixed items, or intact labelled questionnaires. For two approaches, we compared: (1) flooring ceiling effects; (2) mean median questionnaire scores; (3) internal consistency (Cronbach alpha); (4) exploratory factor analysis. sought correlations between levels of pain intensity capability. Results found slightly more group symptoms depression (66% [41 62] vs 46% [32 69], p-value = .034), no differences scores each questionnaire, by Cronbach alpha, loading coefficients analysis anxiety group. The level was significantly different groups (intermixed: 0.87 [95% CI 0.82 0.92], fixed: 0.96 0.93 0.98]). There association measures gathered via strategies magnitude Conclusion finding that questions about did not diminish suggests advantage questionnaires used research.