Research Methods: Self Reports & Questionnaire Flashcards
In a self-report, participants give information to the researcher to provide details on their…?
Thoughts/feelings/behavior
What two types of questions can you get in a questionnaire?
Open and closed
Self-report involves participants responding to questions using what two methods?
A questionnaire or interview
What type of question requires a one-word response?
Closed questions
What type of question allows participants to respond in detail?
Open
What do questionnaires often form part of?
Surveys
Do surveys involve asking a small or large sample of people?
Large sample
The purpose of a survey is to get a good representation of…?
The target population
Because we are more able to generalize results from surveys to the rest of the population, does this increase internal or external validity?
External validity
A strength of questionnaires is that they can tackle sensitive issues. Why?
Because participants’ data can remain anonymous
When the data in questionnaires is anonymous, what are participants’ answers more likely to be?
Honest
If participants provide honest responses, what type of validity does this affect and how?
Increases internal validity
Why is there a reduction of investigator effects in a questionnaire?
The researcher does not have to be present
In what type of self-report method is the researcher likely to be present?
Interview
If there are investigator effects, what type of validity does this affect and how?
Reduces internal validity because the investigator effect can act as an extraneous variable
A strength of questionnaires is that they can be given to what quantity of people?
Large quantity
Being able to give questionnaires to a large quantity of people increases what about the findings?
The generalisability
A weakness of questionnaires is that they could lead to social desirability bias. What is this?
People may lie to present themselves in the best possible light
What type of validity does social desirability bias affect and how?
Lowers internal validity
How could you minimize social desirability bias in a questionnaire?
Make the questionnaire anonymous
A weakness of questionnaires is misinterpretation of questions. Why is this more of an issue for questionnaires than interviews?
Because the researcher is not present so can’t ask for clarification
If participants misinterpret questions, this can lead to…?
Invalid information
If participants provide invalid information, what type of validity could this affect and how?
Lowers internal validity
Who could misinterpret participants’ answers in a questionnaire?
The researcher
What type of question can participants answer in their own words?
Open questions
Answers to which type of question tend to include greater detail?
Open questions
What type of questions mean participants’ responses are fixed (e.g., ‘yes’ or ‘no’) or rating scales?
Closed questions
What type of questions produce qualitative data?
Open questions
What type of questions produce quantitative data?
Closed questions
What type of data is non-numerical?
Qualitative data
What type of data is numerical?
Quantitative data
‘On a scale of 1-10 (strongly disagree to strongly agree)…’ Is this an open or closed question?
Closed question
Tick the box that applies to you: Yes / No. Is this an open or closed question?
Closed question
If a question starts with ‘Describe,’ is it open or closed?
Open question
If a question starts with ‘Explain,’ is it open or closed?
Open question
Which type of question provides greater understanding of the content/behavior in question?
Open questions
Which type of question provides answers which are easier to analyze?
Closed questions
Why are closed question answers easier to analyze?
Because they produce quantitative data
What type of question is open to researcher bias?
Open questions
What type of question lacks depth and insight into behavior?
Closed questions
Why are open questions open to researcher bias?
Participants’ responses are open to subjective interpretation by the researcher
What is response bias?
Where participants reply in a similar way to questions (e.g., always ticking yes)
What type of questions are open to response bias?
Closed questions
If answers lack depth and insight into behavior, the answers could lack…?
Validity
Which type of questions easily allow comparisons to be made between groups of people?
Closed questions
Why does a questionnaire have greater generalisability than interviews?
Because in an interview the researcher has to be present, limiting the amount of people the research can be conducted on
What is it called when people lie to present themselves in the best possible light?
Social desirability bias
When are participants more likely to be honest on questionnaires?
When the answers are anonymous
Questionnaires and interviews are types of what research method?
Self-report
Define an interview.
A method of asking questions – face-to-face. Sometimes it can be over the phone or computer such as through Skype
What are the two types of interviews?
Structured and Unstructured Interview
In a structured interview are the questions pre-set or have no set questions?
Pre-set questions
In a structured interview, is the interviewer more or less likely to deviate from the topic?
Less likely to deviate from the topic
TRUE OR FALSE: In structured interviews, the interviewer will ask the same question in the exact same order.
True
TRUE OR FALSE: In a structured interview, the interviewer can ask any extra questions based on the information provided by the participant.
False
AO3: If participants get the same question, what will you be better able to do?
It is possible to compare responses and identify trends and patterns more easily
AO3: The researcher cannot deviate from the pre-set question meaning they cannot follow up on new lines of enquiry. What might this mean?
This may mean they do not get a full understanding of behavior
What is an unstructured interview?
May contain a topic area for discussion but no set questions so each interview gets different questions
What are the questions based on in an unstructured interview?
The questions are based on the responses of the interviewee so the interviewer can discuss interesting points made by the interviewee
The questions that are asked in an unstructured interview are more likely to be ____ questions.
Open
AO3: A strength of an unstructured interview is that the researcher can allow the person to go into more depth with their responses of the interviewer. This means…
They can gain a fuller understanding of the participant’s behavior
AO3: A limitation of an unstructured interview is that it can be hard to identify patterns because…
All participants are asked different questions making the responses harder to analyze and compare
AO3: A limitation of (any) interviews is that they are more time-consuming and expensive as the questions are asked face-to-face and so require a 1:1 with a researcher UNLIKE a questionnaire…
Which are less time-consuming and expensive as the researcher does not need to be present
AO3: A limitation of (any) interview is that it is prone to investigator effects as the researcher needs to be present. Their ____ or _____ could influence the participants to respond in a certain way, therefore lowering the internal validity.
E.g., behavior/gender
AO3: What is the benefit of an interviewer being present in an interview?
As the researcher is present during an interview, the participant can ask for clarification if they do not understand a question, or the researcher could ask for clarification if they do not understand a response, therefore improving the internal validity of the research.
