Self Report Flashcards
What are two general strengths of self reports?
- Practical/Easy to conduct - can collect a large amount of information quickly and cheaply.
- Opportunity for detailed information from sample.
What are two general weaknesses of self reports?
- Social desirability bias can reduce reliability of results.
- Questions can be leading or misleading
- Questions can be misinterpreted or open to interpretation.
What are rating scales?
They are a type of closed question in which participants are often asked to answer by choosing a number from 1-10.
What are likert scales?
They are a type of closed question in which participants are often asked to say how much they agree or disagree with a statement.
What are two examples of self reports that enable data to be gathered?
- Interviews
- Questionnaires.
How can self reports be delivered to participants?
- Face to face
- Post
- Phone
What are two advantages of rating scales?
+ They show the strength AND direction of participants’ opinions on certain topics.
+ The data collected is easy to quantify and therefore easy to compare, analyse and display visually on a graph.
What are two disadvantages of rating scales?
- As they are a type of closed question, responses are short and brief, which means researchers may not fully understand participants’ views, as they do not have the opportunity to explain their answers.
- Questions may be misleading (so that participants answer the question in a different way that they are supposed to) or leading (making participants respond in a particular way)
What are two advantages of likert scales?
+ Increases the validity of closed questions.
+ They show the strength AND direction of participants’ opinions
What are two disadvantages of likert scales?
- There can be misinterpretations of the question.
- There can be a ‘middle ground’ option in which participants are neutral in terms of their response to the statement.
