Non-Experimental Methods of Investigating Behaviour - Self-Report Techniques

Question 1

What is a self-report technique?

Answer 1

any method which involves asking a participant about their feelings, attitudes, beliefs and so on

Question 2

Why are self-report techniques used?

Answer 2

they are used to study anything that is not directly observable

Question 3

What are examples of self-report techniques?

Answer 3

• questionnaires
• interviews

Question 4

When would self-report techniques be used?

Answer 4

• as a method in their own right
• often also used as part of follow-up research to understand why people acted like they did in either an experiment or an observation

Question 5

What are questionnaires?
- a method of…
- they gather data by…

Answer 5

• a method of obtaining written data from participants
• they gather data by asking a representative sample of people the same questions about particular attitudes, opinions, values and beliefs

Question 6

What does the researcher need to decide when designing a questionnaire?

Answer 6

whether to ask open or closed questions

Question 7

What are closed questions?

Answer 7

• involve a fixed response which the participant must choose from
• for example, yes or no questions, attitude scales (eg Likert scale)
• produce quantitative data that is easier to analyse and interpret

Question 8

What are open questions?

Answer 8

• encourage participants to answer freely
• for example, ‘what did you like about the film?’
• produce qualitative data that is detailed and more meaningful than closed questions
• avoids participants becoming frustrated by a long list of questions

Question 9

What are interviews?

Answer 9

a one-to-one conversation with the purpose of collecting information from an individual, usually about their personal thoughts, feelings and behaviours

Question 10

What does the researcher need to decide on when designing an interview?

Answer 10

whether to use a structured interview or a semi-structures interview

Question 11

What is a structured interview?

Answer 11

• has a standardised format of questions
• this means that the questions are pre-written
• the same questions are asked in the same order for each participant

Question 12

What are the advantages of structured interviews?

Answer 12

• replicable as the same questions are repeated therefore data can be compared
• easier to analyse than unstructured interviews

Question 13

What are the disadvantages of structured interviews?

Answer 13

• interviewer bias = the interviewer’s expectations may influence the participants response
• may not be as truthful as an observation (due to social desirability bias)

Question 14

What is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 14

• used specific pre-written questions
• order of questions is NOT FIXED
• this means that questions can be selected to suit the flow of the interview, which encourages the participants to be more open
• researchers can also ask follow-up questions if they wish to explore participants’’ responses further

Question 15

What are the advantages of semi-structured interviews?

Answer 15

• allows people to say what they think and feel as well as access to experiences and attitudes
• more detailed in-depth information can be gathered

Question 16

What are the disadvantages of semi-structured interviews?

Answer 16

• interviewer bias = interviewer’s expectations may influence the participants response
• may not be as truthful as an observation (due to social desirability bias)