Self Report Techniques

Question 1

What self report techniques are there?

Answer 1

• questionnaires

- interviews

Question 2

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 2

-A set of written questions used to asses thoughts, emotions and the dependent variable that can be used in an experiment

Question 3

What is a closed question?

What is an open question?

Answer 3

Closed question = A question that only allows for a fixed number of responses and produces quantitative, easy to analyse but it lacks depth

Open question = a question that produces qualitative data, it is rich in depth and difficult to analyse

Question 4

Strengths of a questionnaire

Answer 4

• It is cost effective and can gather large amounts of data
• Participants can be anonymous therefore they are more honest which increases the validity of the findings
• It can be done with the researcher not being present which reduces effort involved

Question 5

What are the disadvantages of a questionnaire?

Answer 5

• Social desirability might make results less valid as participants may give dishonest answers to be seen in a positive light
• participants may not understand questions and therefore the data produced by completing questionnaires may be invalid
• questionnaires usually produce response bias if there are to many questions to be completed therefore participants may rush the questionnaire and may produce invalid data.

Question 6

What types of closed questions are there?

Answer 6

• Likert scales : a scale which can be from one number to another whether the participants agrees or disagrees
• Rating scales: similar to likert scales using values to represent feelings
• Fixed choice options: includes a list of possible options to pick from

Question 7

What type of interviews are there?

Answer 7

• Structured interviews: compromised of predetermined questions that are asked in a fixed order.
• unstructured interviews: No set of questions, general aim is to ask questions about a certain topic and allow integration to be free flowing.
• semi-structured interviews: List of questions have been set in advance but interviewers are free to ask a follow up question to elaborate on a certain point

Question 8

What are the advantages of an interview?

Answer 8

• if participants do not understand a certain question, it is easy for the interviewer to rephrase the question to make it understandable therefore more valid data can be gathered
• Follow up questions can be asked in a unstructured or semi structured interview which means more data can be gathered which gives us increased insight which increases validity of findings

Question 9

What are the disadvantages of an interview?

Answer 9

• Social desirability may occur which can lead to less valid findings as people want to be seen in a positive light.
• Interviewer bias can occur as the interviewer will have control over the questions and can lead to invalid results this will mostly occur in a unstructured interview
• A structured interview is easily replicable as there is standardisation

Question 10

What makes a bad interview?

Answer 10

• Overuse of Jargon: Technical terms that are only familiar to those within the specialist field should be avoided
• Emptive language: Language that produces certain feelings should be avoided as a result as it might not produce the response that a participant would have produced naturally
• Double- barrelled questions and double negatives: A doubled barrelled question contains two questions in one, this is difficult for respondents as they may agree with one half and disagree with the other half of the question.