RM - Self-report design

Question 1

What are closed questions?

Answer 1

Questions that have a predetermined range of answers from which respondents select one. They tend to produce quantitative data - but, for example, Yes/No answers are qualitative. Then they can be counted to produce quantitative data.

Question 2

What type of data do closed questions produce?

Answer 2

They tend to produce quantitative data - but, for example, Yes/No answers are qualitative. Then they can be counted to produce quantitative data.

Question 3

What are open questions?

Answer 3

Questions that invite respondents to provide their own answers rather than select one of those provided. They tend to produce qualitative data.

Question 4

What type of data do open questions produce?

Answer 4

Qualitative

Question 5

What is qualitative data?

Answer 5

Non-numerical data.

Information in words that cannot be counted or quantified. It can be turned into quantitative data by placing them in categories and counting frequency.

Question 6

What is quantitative data?

Answer 6

Data measured in numbers.

Information that represents how much or how long, or how many, etc. there are of something, i.e. a behaviour is measured in numbers or quantities.

Question 7

What three guideline principles are there when writing good questions?

Answer 7

Clarity
Bias
Analysis

Question 8

What does clarity mean when writing a good question for a questionnaire?

Answer 8

Questions need to be written in a way that the reader (respondent) understands what is being asked.

There should be no ambiguity - something ambiguous has at least 2 possible meanings.
E.g. Did you see the girl with the telescope
This could mean did you see her when you were using the telescope or did you see the girl who was using the telescope.

The use of double negatives reduces clarity (using 2 negative words - such as, “banning capital punishment”).

Avoid double-barrelled questions: “do you suffer from sickness and headaches?”

Question 9

Explain the guideline of bias in good question writing for questionnaires:

Answer 9

Any bias in a question might lead the respondent to be more likely to give a particular answer (as in a leading question).

Greatest problem is social desirability bias as respondents prefer to give answers that make them look more attractive, nicer, more generous, etc. rather than being totally truthful.

Question 10

Why is analysis an essential guideline in good question writing for questionnaires?

Answer 10

Questions need to be written so that the answers are easy to analyse.

For example, if you ask ‘What do you like most about your job?’ or ‘What makes you feel stressed at work?’ you may get 50 different answers form 50 people - open questions.

You also may ask closed questions with a fixed range of answers. These may be easier to analyse but respondents may be forced to select answers that don’t represent their real thoughts or behaviour.

Question 11

Apart from clarity, bias and analysis, what other things should a good questionnaire contain/consider?

Answer 11

Filler questions
Sequence for the questions
Sampling technique
Pilot study

Question 12

Why are filler questions used in questionnaires?

Answer 12

Irrelevant questions to distract the respondents from the main purpose of the survey may reduce demand characteristics.

Question 13

Why is the sequence of the questions in a questionnaire important and what should the sequence be?

Answer 13

Easy questions at the start saving the questions that may make someone feel anxious or defensive until the respondent has relaxed.

Question 14

Why does the sampling technique need to be considered when doing a questionnaire?

Answer 14

i.e. how to select the respondents. Questionnaire studies often use stratified sampling.

Question 15

Why is it important to consider carrying out a pilot study when writing/using a questionnaire?

Answer 15

The questions can be tested on a small group of people meaning that the questions can later be refined in response to any difficulties encountered.

Question 16

Give an example of an open question:

Answer 16

E.g.

What factors contribute to making work stressful?

How do you feel when stressed?

Question 17

Give an example of a closed question:

Answer 17

E.g.

Which of the following makes you feel stressed? (You may tick as many answers as you like)

Likert scale
Work is stressful
- strongly agree
- agree
- not sure
- disagree
- strongly disagree

Question 18

What is a likert scale?

Answer 18

A scale used to represent people’s attitudes to a topic.

When the answers to a question range from strongly agree to strongly disagree (or equivalent).

Question 19

How is an interview recorded?

Answer 19

An interviewer may take notes throughout the interview to document answers.

Or, they may be audio recorded or video recorded.

Question 20

What issues are there with recording an interview?

Answer 20

An interviewer noting down answers to document them may mean this interferes with their listening skills or the respondent may feel a sense of evaluation as the interviewer may not write everything down and then the respondent feels that what they said was not valuable.

Question 21

What effect would the interviewer being in the room of an interview have on the respondent?

Answer 21

Having an interviewer who is interested in the respondents answers may increase the amount of information provided, even in an unstructured interview. this means that interviewers need to be aware of behaviours that demonstrate their ‘interest’.

Question 22

What 2 behaviours demonstrate how interested an interviewer is in a respondents answers?

Answer 22

Non-verbal communication

Listening skills

Question 23

How does non-verbal communication affect the respondents answers in an interview?

Answer 23

Various behaviours such as sitting with arms crossed and frowning communicate disapproval and disinterest, whereas head nodding and leaning forward may encourage the respondent to speak.

Question 24

How do listening skills affect the respondents answers in an interview?

Answer 24

An interviewer needs to know when and how to speak. For example, they shouldn’t interrupt too often and when they do speak they should have a range of encouraging comments such as ‘how interesting’ to show they are listening.

Question 25

What are the strengths of open questions?

Answer 25

Respondents can expand on their answers increasing the amount and detail of information collected.

They can provide unexpected answers allowing researchers to gain new insights into people’s feelings and attitudes.

Question 26

What are the limitations of open questions?

Answer 26

Most respondents may simply avoid giving lengthy complex answers, therefore, in practice, open questions may not actually provide detailed extra information.

They produce qualitative data, which is more difficult to summarise because there is likely to be a wide range of responses, making it harder to detect clear patterns and draw conclusions.

Therefore, the benefits of open questions, in terms of detailed information gathered are offset by difficulties detecting clear patterns.

Question 27

What are the strengths of closed questions?

Answer 27

Have a limited range of answers and produce quantitative data meaning the answers are easier to analyse using graphs and measures such as the mean.

Question 28

What are the limitations of closed questions?

Answer 28

Respondents may be forced to select answers that don’t represent their real thoughts or behaviour meaning that the data collected lacks validity.

Participants may select ‘don’t know’ or have a preference to answer yes (an acquiescence bias) and therefore the data collected is not informative.

The limitations of closed questions mean that they are best used when straightforward, factual information is needed.

Question 29

What is a psychological test?

Answer 29

A task or set of tasks that measures some aspect of human behaviour.

E.g.

• IQ tests measure intelligence
• Personality tests assess personality type
• Mood scales measure emotional state
• Attitude scales report on people’s feelings and opinions
• Aptitude scales measure things like artistic or numerical ability

Question 30

Are psychological tests and attitude scales self-report techniques?

Answer 30

No but they do commonly involve filling in a questionnaire, so many of the issues of questionnaires and interviews are relevant to them.

Question 31

Explain ceiling and floor effects:

Answer 31

Test scores may not be accurate because of a ceiling effect - if all of the questions on a test are easy then everyone will do well, i.e. hit the ceiling.

The reverse may sometimes be true, where all the questions are too hard and everyone does poorly, i.e. hits the floor (floor effect).

Question 32

What is an acquiescence bias?

Answer 32

When a participant has the preference to answer the same thing each time such as always answering yes or selecting ‘don’t know’.