Self Report

Question 1

Rating scales

Answer 1

This is when a participant has to decide on a scale to rate their answer to a question

Question 2

Self report data

Answer 2

This is data self reported by the participant themselves usually through written questionnaires

Question 3

Interview

Answer 3

A research method that involves a face to face interaction with another individual and results in the collection of data

Question 4

Quantative data

Answer 4

Information that can be reduced to numbers or quantities

Question 5

Unstructured interview

Answer 5

• A face to face survey method where there is a broad agenda of areas to talk about but no pre-set questions
• the questions are open and the structure of the interview is flexible rather like a guided conversation allowing the interview to take its own path
• most likely to produce qualitative data

Question 6

Closed questions

Answer 6

Questions that are limited in the way they can be answered

Question 7

Qualitative data

Answer 7

In depth information in a written form - word,texts and ideas

Question 8

Structured interview

Answer 8

Any interview in which the questions are decided in advance

Question 9

Questionnaire

Answer 9

A survey method consisting of a series of pre-set questions for participants to answer involving both open and closed questions that are written down

Question 10

Open questions

Answer 10

Questions that allow the respondents to answer in any way they choose

Question 11

Semi-structured interview

Answer 11

A face to face survey method where the questions are set out at the beginning but the researcher has the freedom to follow up on some answers as the interview progresses

Question 12

What do questionnaires allow ?

Answer 12

• a researcher to discover what people think and feel in contrast to observations which rely on guessing what people think and feel on the basis of how they behave as with a questionnaire one can ask people directly

Question 13

Interview bias

Answer 13

The effect of an interviewers expectations ,communicated unconsciously on a respondent’s behaviour

Question 14

Strengths of questionnaires

Answer 14

• easy , cheap and quickly distributed to large numbers or people enabling a researcher to collect data from a large sample of elope
• may Elict more personal responses from respondents as with face to face they may feel more self conscious and cautious
• impersonal nature may reduce social desirability bias compared to an interviewer

Question 15

Weaknesses of questionnaires

Answer 15

• take a long time to design as a means of data collection
• only filled In by people who can read and write ( literate ) and are also willing to spend time filling them in
• meaning that the sample is thus bias

Question 16

Strengths of interviews

Answer 16

personal contact and being face-to-face may allow an interviewer to able to observe the interviewee

Question 17

Weaknesses of interviews

Answer 17

• Different interviewers may behave in different ways
• interviewer bias may take place

Question 18

Strengths of structured interviews

Answer 18

• easily repeated as questions are standardised meaning answers from different people can be compared and also means they are easier to analyse than an unstructured interview because answers are more predictable

Question 19

Weaknesses of structured interviews

Answer 19

• compatibility may be a problem if the same interviewer behaves differently on different occasions
• different interviewers behave differently - low reliability
• social desirability may still occur
• data collected will be restricted by a pre-determined set of questions

Question 20

Strengths of unstructured interviews

Answer 20

• more detailed information can generally be obtained from each respondent than in a structured interview
• can gain deeper insights into the respondents thoughts and feelings
• can tailor questions to specific responses
• good raport - high in validity

Question 21

Weaknesses of unstructured interviews

Answer 21

• require interviewers with more skill than a structured as the interviewer needs to develop new question’s extemporaneously
• such questions are more likely to lack objectivity than those that are pre-determined because of the instantaneous nature with no time for the interviewer to reflect on what to say
• the requirements for well trained interviewers makes unstructured interviewers more expensive to produce compared with structured interviews which don’t require specialist interviewers
• hard to analyse answers
• low reliability - interviewer may behave differently or ask different questions

Question 22

Weakness of both interview types

Answer 22

• interviewers expectations may influence the answers the interviewee gives
• all interviewers have to be skilled to prevent this as far as possible

Question 23

Strengths of quantifying data

Answer 23

• becomes easier to see patterns in the data
• easier to summarise and present it
• statistical analysis can be carried out

Question 24

Limitations of quantifying data

Answer 24

• care is needed to avoid bias in defining coding units or deciding which behaviours fit particular units
• qualitative data has more detail which is lost when converted into numbers