self report

Question 1

what are overall strengths of self report

Answer 1

both types of self report allow the participant to tell us directly about their experiences and thoughts rather than us inferring these from other methods e.g observation. this increases validity because who knows the participant better than themselves

some types (questionnaires and structured interviews) as all participants are asked the same questions

Question 2

what is self report and what are the two main types

Answer 2

self report is when you ask a participant about their thoughts/behaviours/feelings/attitudes via questions (written or spoken) and record answers

the two types are questionnaires and interviews

Question 3

what is a questionnaire and what are the two types

Answer 3

questionnaires are a series of questions in written form, this could be given in person, filled out online or posted out to participants and returned.

the two types are open and closed question questionnaires

Question 4

what are overall weaknesses of self report

Answer 4

open to social desirability- participants may lie to make them seem better, especially if the topic is sensitive. participants may also mis-remember events they are asked about. bot of these lower internal validity

questionnaires and interviews heavily rely on good literacy skills- if the participant doesn’t understand the question e.g due to the language used then they can’t answer accurately, making results less valid. this would be more common in questionnaires as the participant can ask questions in interviews if they are unsure, however some people may not be confident to do this as they dont want to appear ‘stupid’

Question 5

what are closed questions and what are the 5 types of closed questions

Answer 5

closed questions: provide a limited amount of answers participants must choose from

1) dichotomous question (pick from two options e.g yes/no)

2) numerical rating scale (e.g scale from 1-10)

3) checklist

4) likert scale (strongly agree- strongly disagree)

5) semantic differential scale (e.g very difficult- very easy, participant has to place themselves on a line inbetween the points0

Question 6

evaluate the use of closed questions

Answer 6

+ you can carry out inferential statistics tests
+ less bias/ misinterpretation
+easy to replicate, so more reliable
+easy to analyse

-lacks detail
-the participants answer might not be available so they choose the ‘best fit’ answer

Question 7

what are open questions

Answer 7

open questions: provide no set options so the participant can answer freely and write anything they want

Question 8

evaluate the use of open questions

Answer 8

+greater detail gathered
+provides deeper meaning and insight into thoughts

-harder to replicate
-harder to analyse and compare
-cant use inferential stats tests

Question 9

what are overall weaknesses of questionnaires

Answer 9

questionnaires rely on good literacy skills- if the participant doesn’t understand the question, they cant answer it accurately, lowering validity

open to social desirability- the participant may lie to look better

Question 10

what are overall strengths of questionnaires

Answer 10

questionnaires are always standardised as all participants answer the same questions regardless of whether they are open or closed

they are quick to administer as people can fill them in at once- this also means we can use a larger sample which is more representative of the wider population, making results more generalisable

Question 11

what is an interview

Answer 11

an interview is a series of questions given verbally, face to face between an interview and an interviewee. these answers are usually recorded and transcribed later by the interviewer

Question 12

name and describe the three types of interview

Answer 12

structured: questions are predetermined (written before the interview takes place) and these questions are set- no changes are allowed during the interview to the set list. all participants are asked the same questions

semi structured: some questions are pre-planned to ask but the interviewer can also ask follow up questions based on the participants previous responses

unstructured: a topic of discussion is picked but no fixed questions at all so its more like a conversation

Question 13

evaluate the use of unstructured interviews

Answer 13

+can ask follow up questions to gain more detail and a greater understanding
+rapport can be built between the interviewer and interviewee, making them more comfortable and more likely to respond accurately, making the study more valid

Question 14

evaluate the use of structured interviews

Answer 14

+can be easily replicated, increasing validity
+easy to analyse

_can’t ask follow up questions so may lack detail

Question 15

evaluate the use of semi structured interviews+

Answer 15

+ can ask follow up questions

-they can be difficult to plan and can go off topic easily

Question 16

what are overall strengths of interviews

Answer 16

participants can ask the interviewer to say the question in a different way or to explain what the question is asking so they can answer more honestly and accurately, increasing validity

Question 17

what are overall weaknesses of interviews

Answer 17

could be unethical as they are not confidential- participants may not answer honestly if they don’t want to be associated with their responses, especially to more sensitive topics

open to social desirability- participants lying to seem better

Question 18

what is the split half method and what is it used for

Answer 18

the half split method tests internal reliability- how consistent the test is within itself. e.g you could split a questionnaire in half and the participant should get similar scores on each half if the test is measuring what it needs to be measuring consistently

Question 19

what is test-retest and what is it used for

Answer 19

test-retest tests external reliability, so how consistent a measure is over time. e.g you could give the participants an IQ test a week apart and they should score similarly each time if the test is reliable.