Self Report

Question 1

What is a self report

Answer 1

A self report technique describe methods of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without intereferance from the researcher

Question 2

The two types

Answer 2

Interviews and questionnaires

Question 3

Questionnaire defentition

Answer 3

Research method that involves collecting data through having participants respond to written questions, these can be closed or open questions, sometimes called surveys.

Question 4

Questionnaire description

Answer 4

The main features of questionnaires are:
Used as part of surveys
Data is collected through participants responding to written questions
- Can collect qualitative data through open questions or quantitative data through closed questions
The aim is to get a good representation of the target population using a large sample - therefore making it able to generalise results to the rest of the population
E.g., Buss used’a questionnaire in his cross-cultural study on the formation of relationships

Question 5

Questionnaire designing

Answer 5

There are 6 things to consider when designing a questionnaire:
• Decide on what type of data you want from your questionnaire (e.g. qualitative or quantitative
data or both!)
• Decide on the questions you will need to ask to gain that type of data e.g. open or closed questions. If closed will you use Likert, rating or fixed option scales.
Questions:
• When writing open questions start with ‘describe, explain……
When writing closed questions start with how often, how many, rate yourself on a scale of…
• Include some distractor questions so that Ppts don’t pick up on clues and change their behaviour (demand characteristics)
•
Decide the order of the questions - start off with easy questions to put pts at ease.
Carry out a pilot study to identify and resolve any problems with the questionnaire.

Question 6

Advantages of questionnaires

Answer 6

+ As questionnaires can be filled out by participants independently they can be easily distributed by post or electronically to large sample groups, therefore you can get more representative samples and more likely to have population validity.
+ Questionnaires are high in reliability as they can be repeated to check for consistent results unlike a case study which is a one off.

Question 7

Disadvantages of questionnaire

Answer 7

Questionnaires could lead to social desirability
- this is where people may lie to present themselves in the best possible light, therefore lowering the internal validity of the research.

• There can be misinterpretation of questions from both the participant and the researcher whereas in an interview they can ask for clarification.

Question 8

Interviews definition

Answer 8

A method for asking verbal questions - in a face-to-face nature, sometimes it can also be over the phone or computer such as through Zoom. (1 mark) There are two types of interview structured and semi-structured (2nd mark)

Question 9

Advantages of using an interview

Answer 9

ADVANTAGES - Justify use of
• Higher validity than questionnaires as it is easier for participants to answer questions in more depth and detail than a written questionnaire.
© Interviews can be more ethical than questionnaires as the interviewer can adjust any sensitive questions to suite the participants’ responses.

Question 10

Disadvantages of interviews

Answer 10

® Compared to questionnaires interviews can be more time consuming to collect the data and may limit the number of participants a researcher may have access to as they need to be face to face.
® As the participant is usually answering questions face-to-face with the researcher compared to a questionnaire they may wish to impress them thus the study may lack internal validity due to social desirability.

Question 11

Structured interviews

Answer 11

All of the questions are standardised before the interviews are carried out.
Every interviewee will be asked the same questions in exactly the same order
→ The interviewer cannot ask any extra questions based on information provided by the participant.

Question 12

Structured interviews advantages

Answer 12

All participants get the same questions meaning that it is possible to easily compare responses and identify trends and patterns much more easily than using an unstructured interview where ppts get different questions

The questions in a structured interview are standardised which ensures consistency across each interview . This increases both the internal reliability (consistency across interviewing different people ) and external reliability (interviewing the same person twice for test /retest ) compared to semi structured interviews )

Question 13

Structured interviews disadvantages

Answer 13

® More time consuming and expensive as the questions are asked face to face and so require a 1:1 with a researcher unlike a questionnaire which can be given to lots of Ppts to complete.

The researcher can’t deviate from the pre set questions meaning the can’t follow up on new lines of enquiry.this may mean they don’t get as fuller understanding of behaviour compared to an unstructured interview .

Question 14

Semi structured interview

Answer 14

→ Contains some set questions but also involves each interviewee getting different questions.
→ The additional questions are based on the responses of the interviewee so the interviewer can discuss interesting points made by the interviewee.
→ The questions asked are more likely to be

Question 15

Advantages of semi structured interviews

Answer 15

• Unlike a structured interview questions can be rephrased or presented in different ways in order that the interviewee can understand them or put in their own cultural frame. An increased understanding of the questions may lead to more true answers which increases the internal validity of the study.

® The researcher can allow the person to go into more depth with their responses as questions are based on the responses of the interviewer compared to a structured interview. This means that they can gain a fuller understanding of the Ppts behaviour compared to a structured interview.

Question 16

Disadvantages of semi structured interviews

Answer 16

• Some of the questions asked to each participant (interviewee) will differ, this may prove comparing participants’ responses and identifying trends or patterns difficult compared to a structured interview.

As there is an inconsistency in the questions presented to each interviewee there is reduced internal reliability and it might make it difficult to assess external reliability through test retest compared to a structured interview.

Question 17

Semi structured interviews designing

Answer 17

There are 5 things to consider when designing an interview:
1. Will the interview be structured or unstructured?
2. Choice of open (qualitative data) or closed (quantitative data) questions
a. Writing questions When writing quantitative questions you could start with: How many ….? How often….?
b. When writing qualitative questions you could start with : Describe …. give an example of
3. Decide on the appearance of the interviewer so that it is the same for all participants to reduce the chance of investigator effects.
4. How will the interview be recorded (will the interviewer make notes or video/record the interview?) If the interview is recorded it may avoid the interviewer missing information or the participant feeling anxious.
5. Conduct a pilot study to ensure problems with the wording of questions are identified and resolved before the final study.