Self report techniques

Question 1

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 1

• A set of written questions that are used to assess a persons thoughts and experiences
• May be used as a part of experiment to assess the dependent variable

Question 2

What is an open question?

Answer 2

Does not have a fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer in any way they wish.
Tend to produce more qualitative data that contains a wide range of different answers

Question 3

What is a closed question?

Answer 3

Has a fixed number of responses. These produce quantitative data and lack depth and detail

Question 4

What are the different types of interview?

Answer 4

• structured interviews
• unstructured interviews
• semi - structured interviews

Question 5

What are structured interviews?

Answer 5

• structured interviews are made up of pre - determined set of questions in a fixed order

Question 6

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 6

• works like a conversation, no set questions
• no general aim and a certain topic will be discussed
• interactions tends to be free flowing

Question 7

What is a semi - structured interview?

Answer 7

• a list of questions that have been worked out in advanced but interviewers are free to ask follow up questions

Question 8

Evaluate questionnaires?

Answer 8

S = Questionnaires are cost effective. Can gather large amounts of data quickly and can be distributed to large numbers of people. Straightforward to analyse

L = Answers may not be truthful. Respondents may be keen to present themselves in a positive light. This is a form of demand characteristics called social desirability bias. Questionnaires often produce response bias, for example participants may always click ‘yes’

Question 9

Evaluate interviews?

Answer 9

• Structured interviews like questionnaires, are straightforward to replicate as it is in a standardised formats. The format also reduces differences between interviewers. However,structured interviews limit the richness of data collected.
• There is more flexibility with unstructured interviews as interviewers can follow up on questions and gain more insight
• However, there may be interviewer bias (where the expectations or opinions of the interviewer interferes with the judgment of the interviewee) and also unstructured interviews are harder to analyse
  -there is also a risk of social desirability