Research Methods Flashcards
Rating scale
Open or closed?
Offer respondents rating of strength of opinion
Closed
Likert rating scale
Open or closed
Respondents rate opinion on scale (1-10)
Closed
Semantic rating scale
Open or closed
Rate opposites e.g. clean to dirty
Closed
Ranked
Open or closed
Each preference given a weighting and the highest score is the winner
Closed
Quantitative open questions
Objective or subjective
Information that can be converted to numbers and not open to interpretation (objective)
Qualitative open question
Objective or subjective
Information that isn’t numerical and is open to interpretation (subjective)
Issues with questionnaire
Social desirability
Respondent doesn’t give a genuine answer but one that depicts them in a favourable light
Demand characteristics
Issues with questionairre
Question construction
Can’t mislead to give certain answers
Leading questions - did you see the white person committing the crime
Also don’t give a middle option for a likert rating scale
Questionnaire reliability
Test retest (external)
Consistency if measures
Redoing the test with the same people and same questions at a different time
Questionnaire reliability
Split half (internal)
Split the test into two halves and both halves should give the same results
Questionnaire validity
Face validity
Looking at each question
Does it make sense in terms of construct measured
Questionnaire validity
Predictive validity
Extent to which results from a test can predict the future behaviour
Questionnaire validity
Concurrent validity
Establishing validity by comparing evidence from several studies testing the same thing to see they agree
Interviews
Structured
Standardise procedure so are all asked in the same way
Often for QT data
Easy to administer
no established report between researcher and respondent
Cons:
Data gathered lacks depth and opinion
Interviews
Unstructured
Lose research aim
QL data, interviewer analytical, probe to seek meaning from respondents
Good rapport w respondents
Cons:
Ethical issues (direct quotes) but respondents anonymous
Interviews
Semi structured
More conversational and dynamic
Set of questions aimed to be asked by no standardise format
Convo flows better but still reach results
QT and QL
Interviews
Advantages:
Skilled interviewer
Flexibility of questioning
Explanation of questions
Respondent feels trust and in depth reliable information
Respondent will show interests and opinions and explains answers
Allows respondent to fully understand concept
Interviews
Disadvantage
Researcher effects
Self report
Lead to socially desirable answers as the answer may change if the person doesn’t want to offend the interviewer
May not reveal true answers due to stereotype or stigma
Thematic analysis
Inductive approach
Researcher reads and re reads QT data gathered and themes emerge
Without imposing any of their own ideas or expectations from it
Thematic analysis
Deductive thematic analysis
Involves researcher specifying the themes they will look for before analysing the data
What is thematic analysis
Turns QT data to QN data
Analysing data w out losing its meaningfulness completely but enables a vast amount of QT data te be reduced into more manageable general patterns and themes
What is an open question
• An open question is where respondents have a free choice to
elaborate on the answers that they giv
what is subjectivity
Subjectivity is where the personal opinion of the researcher may affect the collection and interpretation of research data in psychology
