RESEARCH METHODS: Self report techniques Flashcards
what are self report techniques?
Any method in which a person is asked to state or explain the own feelings, opinions, behaviours or experiences related to a given topic.
What are questionnaires?
They are a set of written questions used to assess a persons thoughts and experiences. It assesses the dependent variable.
What are the two types of questionnaires?
Open questions and closed questions
What are open questions?
Open questions do not have a fixed range of answers. Respondents are free to answer in any way. It produces qualitative data that contains a wide range of different responses but may be difficult to analyse.
What are closed questions?
Close questions offer a fixed number of responses. They are yes or no answers or ‘1-10’ answers. It produces quantitative data which is easy to analyse but may lack depth and detail associated with open questions.
What are interviews?
Interviews are the live encounter where one person asks a set of questions to assess an interviewees’ thoughts or experience/
What is a structured interview?
Questions are preset.
What is a unstructured interview?
Questions may develop as interview goes along.
What are semi structured interviews?
When there is a list of questions that have been worked out in advance but interviewers are free to ask follow-up questions.
Evaluate questionnaires?
+ questionnaires are cost-effective. Large amount of data is gathered quickly because they are distributed to large numbers of people.
+Questionnaires can be completed without the presence of the researcher. (postal questionnaire reduces the effort involved)
+ Data produced is straightforward to analyse.
+ Data provides, statistical analysis and comparisons between groups of people.
- responses given may not be truthful. Responders may be keen to prove themselves in a positive light which may influence their answers. This means there are demand characteristics and social desirability bias.
- questionnaires often produce a response bias which is where respondents reply in a similar way. e.g always ticking yes, this is because respondents want to finish the questionnaire quickly.
- acquiescence bias - the tendency to agree with items on a questionnaire regardless of the content question.
evaluate structured interviews
+ straightforward to replicate due to the standardised format.
+ standardised format also reduces the differences between interviewers.
-interviewers cannot deviate from the topic or explain questions, this will limit the richness of the data collected as well as limit un expected information
evaluate unstructured interviews
+ there is more flexibility, the interview accounts follow-up points and more likely to gain insight into the world view of the interviewee, including collecting unexpected information.
- flexibility may lead to an increasing risk of interviewer bias.
-Analysis of data from an unstructured interview is not straightforward. The research I may have to sift through the relevant information and draw conclusions which may be difficult.
-there is a risk that interviewers may lie for reasons of social desirability.