Lesson 3- Self-report Techniques

Question 1

What are self-report techniques?

Answer 1

when participants provide detail of their own feelings, thoughts or behaviours to the researcher

Question 2

What are the two types of self-report techniques?

Answer 2

1. interviews
2. questionaires

Question 3

What is an interview?

Answer 3

Involves the researcher asking questions in face-to-face situations

Question 4

What is a structured interview?

Answer 4

All participants are asked the SAME questions in the SAME order.

Question 5

What type of data do structured interviews provide?

Answer 5

QUANTITATIVE data

Question 6

What is an Unstructured interview?

Answer 6

An informational in-depth conversational exchange between the interviewer and interviewee

Question 7

What type of data do structured interviews provide?

Answer 7

QUALITATIVE data

Question 8

What is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 8

type of interview that combines a mixture of STRUCTURED and UNSTRUCTURED techniques

Question 9

What type of data do semi-structured interviews provide?

Answer 9

a mixture of QUANTITATIVE and QUALITATIVE data

Question 10

State TWO advantages of interviews
(sensitive, clarification)

Answer 10

1. COMPLICATED or SENSITIVE issues are best dealt with an interview
2. If participants misunderstood a question, this can be CLARIFIED

Question 11

State TWO disadvantages of interviews
(interviewer effects, social desirablity)

Answer 11

1. There is a risk of interviewer effects (when the interviewer may inadvertently affect respondent’s answers). This can be UNINTENTIONAL may be as a result of the interviewer’s appearance, manner or gender
2. Risk of social desirability bias-> respondent may lie or alter some of their answers to present themselves in a POSITIVE light

Question 12

What is a questionaire?

Answer 12

participants are given a SET LIST of questions and instructions about how to RECORD their answers.

mainly focuses on individuals, behaviour, opinions, beliefs + attitudes

Question 13

What are CLOSED questions?

Answer 13

questions that require participants to choose from FIXED responses

Question 14

What type of data do CLOSED questions provide?

Answer 14

QUANTITATIVE data

Question 15

Advantage of closed questions?

Answer 15

• researchers are able to COLLATE + display the information collected easily

Question 16

What are OPENED questions?

Answer 16

questions that allow participants to answer in their OWN words

Question 17

What type of data do OPEN questions provide?

Answer 17

QUALITATIVE data

Question 18

Advantage of OPENED questions?

Answer 18

allow respondents to interpret questions as they wish + develop their responses in detal- lots of information is provided for the researcher

Question 19

3 advantages of questionaires?
(large data, standard, closed)

Answer 19

• possible to collect LARGE amounts of data quickly + conveniently
• questionaires are STANDARDISED so it is easy to REPLICATE

-easy to score/ collate when the questions are CLOSED

Question 20

3 disadvantages of questionaires?
(lack of clarification, response rate, biased)

Answer 20

• participants may misunderstand the question and the researcher is not there to CLARIFY

-Questionaires have a LOW response rate

-Questionaires can have a BIASED sample as they are only suitable to people who can READ + are willing to spend time on them

Question 21

What are the 3 factors a researcher needs to take into consideration when writing good questions?

Answer 21

1. Clarity
2. Bias
3. Analysis

Question 22

Why is clarity important when constructing quesitons?

Answer 22

questions should be clear so that the participants know what is being asked-> ambiguity should be AVOIDED

Question 23

Why is avoiding BIAS important when constructing questions?

Answer 23

bias may lead the respondent to give a particular answer (e.g leading questions)
avoids social desirablity bias from respondents

Question 24

Why is analysis important when constructing questions?

Answer 24

questions need to be written so that they are easy to ANALYSE

Question 25

What are the factors a researcher needs to take into consideration when constructing good questionaires

Answer 25

1. Avoiding FILLER questions
2. Sequence of questions-> starting with easier and then harder
3. Sampling technique-> use stratified sampling to avoid having a biased sample
4. Pilot study

Question 26

Why is recording an interview important?

Answer 26

less likely to interfere with the researcher’s listening skills (unlike note taking)