Research methods 9.1.5 - questionnaires and interviews Flashcards
what is social desirability bias?
when people change their answers or behaviour in a questionnaire or interview to appear more socially desirable
what is acquiescent response (agreement) bias?
a response bias where people select the positive response option on a questionnaire more than the negative one
how can acquiescent response bias be overcome?
by having both positive and negative statements or questions on the questionnaire
what are examples of where acquiescent response bias is evident/avoided in questionnaires?
Adorno’s F-scale is worded so that agreement always indicates an authoritarian response (leads to social desirability bias as people could just avoid agreeing)
the RWA scale is balanced to have an equal number of pro and anti authoritarian statements
what are self-report methods?
a set of methods in which respondents describe their own feelings/beliefs/thoughts/attitudes etc
what are the two types of self-report methods?
interviews and questionnaires
what are the three types of interview?
unstructured, semi-structured and structured
what are the features of unstructured interviews?
the interviewer has few or no pre-prepared questions
there may be a focus
follow up questions will depend on the pp’s responses
what are the features of semi-structured interviews?
the interviewer has a list of pre-prepared questions which they must ask, but they can add and remove questions (more flexible than structured)
this allows the researcher to gather more detailed information through the probing process - deeper insight
what is probing?
when a researcher asks a participant to build on what they have said in an interview
what are the features of structured interviews?
there are pre-prepared questions which must be asked (questions can’t be added/removed)
questions are asked in a set order
questions usually consist of close questions which are scored quantitatively
as a result they are the easiest type of interview to replicate
what are strengths of interviews?
allow researchers to gather a depth of information not always possible in questionnaires
participants may give unexpected answers which can provide more insight into a particular area
participants can clarify what the questions mean/interviewer can clarify what participant means - responses have higher validity
in unstructured/semi-structured interviews you can ask participants why they may behave in a certain way, instead of just observing their behaviour
what are weaknesses of interviews?
characteristics eg. gender, ethnicity of the interviewer may influence responses
the interviewer may cue the participant to respond in certain ways (interviewer expectancy)
they must be transcribed and can be time-consuming to analyse (particularly unstructured/semi-structured as there may be irrelevant information)
analysis of transcripts (thematic analysis) is subjective so may be affected by personal opinions and views
researchers must be trained, especially in unstructured interviews - increases cost
what is a questionnaire?
a method of data collection requiring participants to answer a list of questions
what are the two overall question types found in questionnaires?
open and closed
what is an open question?
a question which can’t be answered with a simple answer like yes/no
they provide qualitative data (detailed/descriptive)
what is a closed question?
a question with a fixed answer
they collect quantitative data (numerical)
what are the different ways data can be collected in a closed question?
- straightforward response eg. yes/no, male/female
- Likert scale - participants respond to statement using a scale
- checklist - set of statements and participants choose the one which best applies to them
- ranking scale - participants place a list of options in rank order
- adjectival/adverbial responses eg. not at all, a bit, very much
what are the strengths of questionnaires?
quick and therefore cheap to conduct
can reach larger sample than with an interview - increased generalisability
no risk of interviewer influencing participant’s response
if questions are closed and provide quantitative data, they are easier for researchers to analyse
what are the weaknesses of questionnaires?
may be issues with validity of responses - pps can’t clarify meaning of questions and researchers can’t clarify meaning of responses
if they are too long people may end up choosing random answers
social desirability bias
if questionnaires aren’t well-designed and have leading questions, people may all give the same answer
