RM - Self-report techniques and design

Question 1

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 1

Most common self-report technique. Involves a set of written Qs sometimes referred to as items, used to assess a persons thoughts and or experiences.

Question 2

How may questionnaires be used in a study?

Answer 2

May be used to assess the DV. E.g. whether views on the legislation of specific recreational drugs are diff. in older and younger ppl.

Question 3

What are open questions?

Answer 3

• Doesn’t have a fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer how they wish
• Produces qualitative data that contains a wide range of diff. responses
• May be difficult to analyse

Question 4

What are closed questions?

Answer 4

• Offers a no. of fixed responses
• Produces quantitative data which is easy to analyse
• May lack in the depth and detail that open Qs often have

Question 5

What are the strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 5

• Cost effective - gather large amounts of data quickly as they can be distributed to large no.s of ppl. Also can be completed w/o presence of researcher (postal) reducing effort involved
• Straightforward to analyse - especially if it is all closed Qs. Lends itself to statistical analysis and comparisons can be made using graphs and charts

Question 6

What are the limitations of questionnaires?

Answer 6

• Responses may not be truthful - ppl may want to show selves in positive light and this may influence answers. This is social desirability bias
• Produce responses bias - respondents tend to reply in a similar way, ticking yes or answering at same end of rating scale. May complete too quickly and fail to read Qs correctly - Acquiescence bias (tendency to agree)

Question 7

What are interviews?

Answer 7

A ‘live’ encounter where one person asks a set of Qs to assess an interviewees thoughts and/or experiences. Qs may be pre-set or dev. as interview goes.

Question 8

What are structured interviews?

Answer 8

Pre-determined set of Qs asked in fixed order. Like a questionnaire but conducted face-to-face.

Question 9

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 9

Works more like a conversation. No set Qs. A general aim that a certain topic will be discussed and interaction tends to be free flowing. Interviewee encouraged to expand and elaborate on answers by interviewer.

Question 10

What is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 10

Many interviews likely to fall between the 2 types. Most likely to encounter this in everyday life - job interview.

Question 11

What are the strengths and weaknesses of structured interviews?

Answer 11

• Easy to replicate due to standardised format. Format reduces diff.s between interviewers
• However, interviewers cannot deviate from topic or explain their Qs, limiting richness of data collected and unexpected info

Question 12

What are the strengths and weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

Answer 12

• More flexibility in unstruc. than struc. Interviewer can follow up pnts as they arise, more likely to gain insight into worldview of interviewee plus unexpected info
• Increased risk of interviewer bias. Not straightforward. May have to sift thro lots of irrelevant info so drawing firm conc.s may be difficult
• May lie - social desirability. However, interviewers should be able to establish sufficient rapport w/ interviewee so when sensitive topics discussed, more truthful