# instrument-designer

Builds the data-collection tool itself: questionnaires, interview and focus-group guides, observation checklists. Useful once indicators exist but nothing measures them.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 645 installs · ★ 3
- Author: gasserane
- License: not stated · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/gasserane/personal-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/instrument-designer

## What it does

This skill designs the instrument, not the indicators and not the analysis. You give it the indicator set or research questions plus who the respondents are: collection mode (structured survey, qualitative interview, observation), age, context, language. It picks the instrument type, ties every item to a named target, and drops the orphans.

Seven steps sit inside. Disaggregation is one of them, and it is built as instrument items: age, gender identity kept separate from sex assigned at birth, disability through the Washington Group Short Set, geography. For an anonymous survey of a small internal group (roughly under 50 people) the standard demographic block de-anonymises respondents, so it is swapped for one coarse optional item and a minimum-cell-size rule. That deviation gets written into the design annex with a rationale.

Sensitive topics — adolescents, GBV, abortion, LGBTI+ — pull consent and assent scripts plus a care-referral pathway into the instrument before collection starts. Export runs through `ane_package.reporting.word_export` to Word; a structured questionnaire also gets assembled into an XLSForm via `xlsform.write_xlsform`, which uploads to KoboToolbox and bridges to the `ane_package.ingest.sources.kobo` adapter. Without those package modules the export fails.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add gasserane/personal-skills --skill instrument-designer -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/instrument-designer/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add gasserane/personal-skills --skill instrument-designer -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add gasserane/personal-skills --skill instrument-designer -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install gasserane/personal-skills instrument-designer
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add gasserane/personal-skills --skill instrument-designer -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/gasserane/personal-skills --path skills/instrument-designer
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add gasserane/personal-skills --skill instrument-designer -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/gasserane/personal-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/instrument-designer/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- write a questionnaire where every item maps to an indicator
- draft a key-informant interview guide
- lay out a focus-group questioning route with probes
- build disaggregation into the instrument instead of coding it later
- produce an XLSForm for deployment in KoboToolbox

## Example prompts
- Build a questionnaire for this indicator set, respondents are girls aged 15–19
- Draft a semi-structured interview guide on access to services
- Turn this questionnaire into an XLSForm for KoboToolbox

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From the same set: [gasserane/personal-skills](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/by/gasserane/personal-skills.md) — 22 cards

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NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md