Questionnaires

Question 1

What are investigator effects (experimenter bias)

Answer 1

• anything that the investigator does which has an effect on the pps performance in a study, other than what was intended
• conscious or unconscious
• we can try to eliminate investigator effects by implementing a double blind procedure

Question 2

What is a double blind procedure?

Answer 2

• neither the pps or the experimenter knows the precise aims of the study
• this reduces experimenter effects as it prevent investigators from give pps clues or as to which condition they are in

Question 3

What is a single blind procedure

Answer 3

Where the pps are not informed of the condition that they are in
-this helps to eliminate demand characteristics

Question 4

How can investigator effects occur

Answer 4

• physical characteristics of investigator e.g. age
• less obvious personal characteristics e.g. pps may respond differently to someone with a stern voice
• investigators may be subconsciously biased in their interpretation of the data and find what the expect to find

Question 5

Characteristics of a questionnaire

Answer 5

consist of closed/fixed choice items

• closed/fixed choice- easier to score/quantify (quantitative data) but restricts pps answers
• open ended questions- more realistic as more scope to answer qurstions in our own way- more detailed

Question 6

4 reasons why it is hard to produce a good questionnaire, identified by Coolican (2004)

Answer 6

• complexity- item is difficult to understand
• ambiguity- item can be interpreted in more than one way
• double baralled items- item contains 2 questions and asks the pp for a Y/N response
• leading questions- items that contain within it implications that a certain response is expected

Question 7

What should be considered for constructing a questionnaire

Answer 7

• aim- easier to write questions to address this
• length- short and to the point to redue dropout rate
• previous questionnaire- use as a basis if they’ve been successful
• question formation- concise, unambiguous and easily understood

Question 8

How can we decide how good any given questionnaire is?

Answer 8

• standardisation- tests that have been administered o a large representative sample so the individuals scores can be compared against others
• reliability- extent to whch questionnaire provides consitent findings
• test-retest technique- a number of individuals are given the same questionnaire on two different occasions and the scores are correlated
• split half technique- scores from one half of test compared with other
• validity- questionnaire is measuring what it claims to measure

Question 9

Strengths of questionnaires

Answer 9

• large amounts of data can be collected and analysed so conclusions can be drawn
• explore most aspects of personality, attitudes and beliefs
• high reliability and reasonable consistency
• lack of investigtor effects- can be completed without researcher present

Question 10

Weaknesses of questionnaires

Answer 10

• social desirability bias
• many questionnaires poorly constructed so lack reliability and validity
• often used with correlation studies so can’t establish cause and effect
• pps need high literacy levels to understand the meaning og items
• biased sample- certain types of people more willing to fill in questionnaires
• some questionnaires may require detailed answers and closed questions may be given