Research Methods P3 Flashcards
What are questionnaires?
Provide ppts with written set of questions to complete
What type of questions are asked in a questionnaire?
Closed
What are the limitations of questions being fixed in a questionnaire?
- Not generalised
- Can’t make changes once sent out
What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing a questionnaire face to face?
+ People do it if there
+ Easy if people don’t use tech
- Smaller sample size
What are the benefits and drawbacks of sending a questionnaire in the post/ online?
+ Large sample
+ Reach greater diversity
- Some people don’t have stamps
- Rely on people doing it
What are open questions?
Allow ppts to answer in their own words (qualitative)
What are closed questions?
Require ppts to select answer from given option (quantitative)
What is a likert scale?
Ppts choose a value on a scale
What do you need to consider when writing questions?
- Easy to understand?
- Not leading
- Work out the end?
- Put in filler questions
What are the benefits of using a questionnaire?
P= Easy to repeat
E= Researcher doesn’t require special training
E= Data collected in large amount (replicability)
P= Reduce investigator effect
E= Answer Q without researcher present
E= Increase validity
C= Ppts won’t be able to ask q for clarification
What are the drawbacks of using a questionnaire?
P= Show social desirability bias
E= Provide responses that show themselves in best light
E= Not always entirely valid
C= Anonymous response
P= Sample bias
E= People who are more motivated
E= Low population validity (similar characteristics)
What is an interview?
Social interaction between researcher + participants
What is a structured interview?
Fixed predetermined closed questions
What is an unstructured interview?
Guidelines for questions to be asked but phrasing/ timing left to interviewer
What is a semi-structured interview?
May contain topic but no fixed questions
What should be considered by researchers when planning an interview?
- Open/ closed
- Structured/ unstructured/ semi-structured
-Potential for social desirability bias - Ethical issues arise?
- How to record info
What are the benefits of using interviews?
P= Appropriate for sensitive topics
E= Encourage + offer reassurance
E= Ethical
P= Mainly qualitative data
E= Open questions
E= Peoples in depth understanding
C= Investigator bias? (validity issues)
What are the drawbacks of using interviews?
P= Social desirability bias
E= Interaction with researcher
E= Effects validity
P= Time consuming
E= Qualitative data takes longer to analyse
E= Smaller sample size (low popu. validity)
What is qualitative data?
- Subjective
- Non-numerical data
- Detailed
- Low reliability
- Attitudes, beliefs, opinions
What is quantitative data?
- Objective
- Numerical data
- Lacks detail
- High reliability
- Patterns, trends
What are the strengths of quantitative data?
P= Scientifically objective
E= Interpreted using statistical analysis
E= Based on principles of mathematics
L= Analysis free from bias + interception
P= Time + cost effective
E= Immediately produce numerical info from large sample
E= Data easily compared
L= Get lots of data quickly
What are the weaknesses of quantitative data?
P= Less valid
E= Numerical data that is quantifiable
E= Lacks depth
L= Less opportunity to capture rich data
What are the strengths of qualitative data?
P= Highly valid
E= Based on detailed responses/ accounts
E= Insightful data
L= Opportunity to capture rich, descriptive data
What are the weaknesses of qualitative data?
P= Highly subjective
E= Non-numerical data
E= Can’t be easily compared
L= Open to bias + interpretation
P= Time + cost consuming
E= Info has to be transformed before analysis carried out
E= Transforming-> lengthy + subjective process
L= More difficult to run
What do good questionnaire/ interviews have?
- Avoid leading questions
- Avoid vagueness/ ambiguity
- Avoid double-barrelled questions
- Avoid overly complex phrases (jargon)
- Not too long
What are ways to improve validity + reliability of ppt answers?
- Lie identifiers (asked twice, phrased differently)
- Distractor/ filler questions
- Reverse scoring if using likert scale
- Pilot study before
- Large sample size
