The questionnaire appraisal system is designed to assist questionnaire designers in evaluating survey questions, and in finding and fixing problems, before the questions “go into the field.” We strongly believe that many improvements to questions can be made through the process of appraisal— the systematic review of a questionnaire, using a system like the QAS-99 as a guide. Our goal is to improve the efficiency of the questionnaire review process by providing developers with an easy-to-use method for identifying and correcting potential problems with draft questionnaire items. QAS-99 was based on several previous question appraisal systems and, in part, from a method developed to examine and classify the cognitive processes inherent in the question-answering process (Lessler and Forsyth, 1996). This version is different from ones that we have used in other studies. In this version, we have eliminated codes that characterize the nature of the response task, that focus on mnemonic and judgment processes, and have, instead, focused on question characteristics that are likely to present problems when administered in the field.