Psychology - Research Methods - Self Reports Flashcards
Self-report techniques
Methods where participants give information about themselves without the researcher interfering
Interviews
Asking questions face to face
what are the types of interviews?
structured, semi-structured, unstructured
Structured interview
All participants answer the same questions in the same order providing quantitative data. Consists of closed questions
What are the advantages of a structured interview?
- Misunderstandings can be clarified so question can be repeated to help understanding - Quick interviews compared to unstructured, less time consuming
What are the disadvantages of structured interviews?
- Risk of interviewer effect making data invalid - lacks indepth data so less valid
unstructured interview
Informal, in-depth conversational exchange between interviewer and interviewee. Questions are not pre planned and consist of themes the interviewer wants to discuss, Provides qualitative data
What are the advantages of unstructured interviews?
- More data produced so more valid - Creates rapport between interviewer and interviewee - Useful for sensitive and controversial topics
What are the disadvantages of unstructured interviews?
- Social desirability bias so invalid or inaccurate results - interviews need to be well trained
Semi-structured interview
Combines a mix of structured and unstructured techniques producing both quantitative and qualitative data with open and closed questions
What are the advantages of semi structured interviews?
- Both quantitative and qualitative data so more valid - Reliable as some questions are planned so people get same questions
What are the disadvantages of semi structured interviews?
- Time consuming - A lot of data to process
Questionnaires
self-administered, written sets of questions
What type of questions appear in questionnaires?
Closed and open questions
What type of data is produced from closed questions?
Quantitative data
What type of data is produced from open questions?
Qualitative data
Quantitative data
Data that can be counted or expressed numerically
Qualitative data
Non-numerical data that uses words to give a description of what people think and feel
Closed questions
Require participants to answer yes or no or choose from fixed responses
Open questions
Allows the participant to answer in their own words
designs of questionnaires
1) Type of data 2) Ambiguity 3) Double barrelled questions 4) Leading questions 5) Complexity
What are the advantages of questionnaires?
- Quick and easy and cheaper than interviews - Easy to replicate so high reliability
what are the disadvantages of questionnaires?
- Ambiguous and wording may be unclear, leading to invalid information - Low response rate
