Self-report techniques

Question 1

What are questionnaires and why are they used?

Answer 1

• involves list questions written for pps to respond to
• used to assess thoughts and/or feelings
• may be used as part of an experiment to assess the DV
• questions are open or closed questions

Question 2

What are open questions?

Answer 2

• they don’t have a fixed range of answers
• respondent are free to answer as they wish
• tends to produce qualitative data which can be rich in depth & detail but difficult to analyse

Question 3

What are closed questions?

Answer 3

• have fixed range of answers
• tends to produce quantitative data which is easy to analyse but lacks depth & detail

Question 3

What is an interview?

Answer 3

• most involve a face-to-face interaction between interviewer & interviewee
• 2 broad types are structures & unstructured

Question 4

What is a structured interview?

Answer 4

• made up of pre-determined set of questions asked in a fixed order
• conducted face-to-face in real time

Question 5

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 5

• involves no set questions
• general aim is that a certain topic is discussed
• interactions tend to be free-flowing
• interviewee is encouraged to expand & elaborate their answers by the interviewer

Question 6

What is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 6

• most likely to encounter in everyday life e.g. job interview
• there are a list of questions worked out in advance but interviewers are free to ask follow up questions when appropriate

Question 7

Evaluation: Strengths of questionnaires

Answer 7

• cost effective
• can gather large amounts of data quickly since it can be distributed to large numbers of people
• can be completed without researcher being present which reduces effort involved
• data produced is usually straightforward to analyse
• comparisons between groups of people can be made using graphs

Question 8

Evaluation: Limitations of questionnaires

Answer 8

• responses may not always be truthful since respondents may want to present themselves as positive which influences their answers - form of demand characteristics & social desirability bias
• often produce response bias

Question 9

Evaluation: Structured interviews

Answer 9

• straightforward to replicate because of standardised format
• not possible for interviewers to elaborate their points which can cause frustration

Question 10

Evaluation: Unstructured interviews

Answer 10

• more flexibility than structured
• interviewer can follow up points giving them valuable insight into the perspective of the interviewee
• analysis of data isn’t straightforward - researcher has to sift through irrelevant info which can make it difficult to establish conclusions
• risk of interviewees lying for social desirability - an experienced interviewer should be able to identify if the person is being truthful