interviews/ questionnares Flashcards
What are open questions ?
No fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer the way they wish.
participants can expand on answers and the interviewer can ask “why “ a participant chose a certain answer
There can be elaboration
What is a closed question?
A closed question offers a fixed number of responses
this could be a ratings scale tick box etc
What is a weakness of a closed question ?
Lacks depth and detail
What is social desirability bias ?
When respondents may change their answers to those that they think are most socially acceptable
What is a semi structured interview ?
A list of questions but the interviewer can explain questions that have been misunderstood and ask follow up questions where appropriate
What is a structured interview?
Pre determined set list of questions that are asked in a fixed order.
What are the weaknesses of a structured interview ?
Less depth in answers as participants can’t elaborate on asnwers
lack of insight
cant deviate or elaborate on points
social desirability bias
What is a likert scale?
When a respondent indicates how much or how little they agree with a statement.
usually uses a 5 point scale
Strongly agree
Agree
neither agree or disagree
disagree
strongly disagree
What is an interview schedule ?
A list of questions that the interviewer tends to cover
this should be standardised for each participant to reduce interviewer bias
Typically the interviewer will take notes throughout the interview or alternatively the interview may be recorded and analysed later
What is jargon ?
Technical terms
researchers shouldn’t use jargon and should be aware of they target audience don’t use jargon that they won’t understand
What is emotive language ?
Use a certain phrase in the question that makes it obvious what the researcher thinks and what the researcher wants the participant to say
What is leading questions ?
Guide us to a certain answer
eg : football is a good sport right ?
What is a double barrelled question ?
Contains 2 questions in 1
the respondent may agree with one half but not the other so it may leave participants unsure of how to respond
Why are interviews better than questionares in some cases ?
The interviewer can build a rapport with the respondent which could make them answer more truthfully compared to a questionare where a rapport can’t be made.
What is a rapport ?
A friendly relationship between a researcher and participant
What is a pilot study?
A pilot study is a small scale trial run of the actual investigation
It involves a small number of typical participants
it is done to find out of certain things do not work and what things need to be changed in the study
What is a self report technique ?
Any method in which a person is asked to state or explain their own feelings opinions behaviours and/ or experiences related to a given topic.
this can be by questionnaires or interviews
and by open or closed questions
What are the strengths of questionares ?
Cheap and not time consuming as the questionares can be easily sent out by email and distributed to large numbers of people
ethics - consent has been given as respondents have done the questionare
closed questions can provide quantitative data which is easy to analyse . graphs / charts can be made
open questions can produce qualitative data that is in rich in depth detail
What’s is a questionare ?
Involved a pre set list of written questions to which the participant responds. They are useful for assessing thoughts of feelings
a questionare can be used as part of an experiment to asses the DV
What is an unstructured interview ?
Similar to a conversation
there is a general aim and topic of conversation but the interviewer is encouraged to prompt the interviewee so they can expand and elaborate their answers in a free flowing way
What are the strengths of a structured interview ?
Removes interviewer bias as the researcher can only ask the set list of questions
it is replicable as the interview is standardised
It is easier to analyse if closed questions are used
What is a ratings scale ?
1-10
respondents identify a value that represents their feeling about a particular topic
Needs to be labelled : e.g 1 very little 10 a lot
What is a weakness of an open question ?
Data can be difficult and time consuming to analyse
What is a strength of closed questions ?
Makes the data easy to analyse as its quantitative
What is interviewer bias ?
The interviewer can affect the intervieweees answers
an interviewer may try to influence the outcome to being a response they want based on how they structure or phrase questions asked
distorts outcome of the interview affects validity and therefore we can’t apply the results this can be fixed by using pre set questions
What are the weaknesses of questionares ?
Response bias - participants may skip through questions quickly and select random answers so they get the questionare done quickly
social desirability bias ; people may lie and make their answers more socially acceptable this can reduce validity
open questions produce qualitative data that can be difficult and time consuming to analyses
closed questions may lack depth and detail
What is the strength of an open question ?
Produce qualitative data which is rich in depth data
What are the weaknesses of unstructured interviews ?
Interviewer bias : the interviewer may ask follow up questions until they get the answer that they want
difficult to analyses
data isn’t straightforward
How would a pilot study of an interview or questionare be carried out
only a small number of participants should take part in the interview or questionare
nothing in the interview or questionare changes it is just given to a smaller sample with fewer participants, the participants should be typical
What is a strength of an unstructured interview ?
In detailed answers and p can elaborate
What is a fixed choice option ?
Includes a list of possible options
tick boxes
