Research methods - self-reports

Question 1

Why do we use self-reports?

Answer 1

To capture feelings, thoughts and beliefs that are not observable.

Question 2

What are the strengths of a self-report?

Answer 2

• We can capture thoughts and feelings which we can’t observe.
• Standardised questionnaires and structured interviews allow easy replication. (High reliability)
• Practical questionnaires in particular allow large quantities of data to be collected quickly.

Question 3

What are the limitations of a self-report?

Answer 3

• Subjective, people may interpret the questions or answer choices differently (low reliability)
• Truthfulness is an issue. Interviewer bias and social desirability bias makes it hard to gauge truthfulness (low validity)

Question 4

What are the strengths of interviews?

Answer 4

• Unstructured or semi-structured interviews allow flexibility and ask further questions

Question 5

What are the weakness of interviews?

Answer 5

• Strong social desirability bias because it is face to face with researcher and the interviewee wants to appeal to the researcher
• Not time efficient: only one person can be interviewed by one interviewer at a time
• Investigator bias: may contain leading questions

Question 6

What are the strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 6

• Less social desirability bias than interviews

- Time efficient: can have thousands answered at the same time, lots of data collected

Question 7

What are the weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 7

• No flexibility, questionnaire is already created so no chance for further questions
• Investigator bias: may contain leading questions
• Doesn’t provide detailed data
• Subjective questions or answer choices: people interpret them differently