Self-report

Question 1

types of questions found in a questionnaire

Answer 1

• closed
• open
• rating scale
• likert
• semantic differential

Question 2

what is a closed question

Answer 2

question that gives answers to the participant, have to chose the most appropriate answer for them (often produce quantitative data)

Question 3

what is an open question

Answer 3

participants asked to respond to a set question but with a blank underneath to respond in whatever style they choose (often produce qualitative data)

Question 4

advantages of closed questions (2)

Answer 4

• easier and quicker for participant to respond
• data collected easier to compare and analyse

Question 5

disadvantages of closed questions (3)

Answer 5

• can force participants to select an option which isn’t true for them
• lacks reason for why they selected the option they did
• lacks detail

Question 6

advantages of open questions (2)

Answer 6

• provides more rich, detailed data
• doesn’t force participants to give a particular response

Question 7

disadvantages of open questions (2)

Answer 7

• time consuming for participants to complete + for researchers to analyse responses collected
• responses may not be relevant to what the researcher was interested in collecting

Question 8

what is a rating scale

Answer 8

person makes a mark at an appropriate point along a numerical dimension to indicate the direction and strength of their attitude
(e.g. on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is really happy and 1 is really sad, how happy do you feel when driving?)

Question 9

advantages of rating scales (3)

Answer 9

• gives researcher idea of how strongly participants feel about something (more detailed than yes or no)
• gives quantitative data which can be compared
• easily repeated

Question 10

disadvantages of rating scales (3)

Answer 10

• participants tend to use the middle scale (so it doesn’t look so extreme)
• doesn’t give an idea on why participants chose that option
• might not be consistent in how participants interpret the scale

Question 11

what is a likert scale

Answer 11

where participants comprise a number of statements for each of which the participants indicate whether they strongly agree/ agree/ undecided/ disagree/ strongly disagree

Question 12

what is standard response set and how is it controlled

Answer 12

the tendency to give the same answer in response to all the different statements
( for half the statements, ‘agree’ represents a positive attitude, and the other half a negative attitude)

Question 13

what are semantic differentials

Answer 13

participants given a word/statement, bipolar adjectives are placed at either end of a scale of 5-7 spaces (no numbers or words attached to this)

Question 14

what is a structured interview

Answer 14

interviewer asks same questions to each participant in the same order

Question 15

what is a semi-structured interview

Answer 15

interviewer given a set of pre-prepared questions to ask and is expected to ask all of them, other questions are then developed from the responses given by the interviewee

Question 16

what is an unstructured interview

Answer 16

researcher has topics to discuss, not all in the same order for each participant (interview more like a conversation)

Question 17

what is the highest level of data

Answer 17

interval/ratio

Question 18

describe interval data

Answer 18

involves use of carefully calibrated instruments of measurements (e.g. temp in degrees celcius)
- analysis made of actual scored by participants

Question 19

describe ratio data

Answer 19

same as interval but must have a ‘true zero’ (for example measuring height in Ms- you can’t have a negative value of height)

Question 20

describe ordinal data

Answer 20

data places in some kind or order or scale
- no standardised differences between actual scores (analysis is made of individual scores but only in relation to each other)
- e.g. a happiness rating scale from 1-10

Question 21

what level of data is ordinal

Answer 21

medium level data

Question 22

describe nominal data

Answer 22

nominal is named data
(it gives a ‘headcount’ of the number of participants who do/have one thing over the other)
e.g. gender, eye colour, hair colour etc…