Self Report Flashcards
Advantages and disadvantages of closed questions.
Good for quantitative data. Easy to collect. Can put in graphs. Can compare groups. Could get larger sample so a higher external reliability.
No opinions.
Might not provide options that fit everyone’s opinions.
May miss important info.
Standard response set.
Advantages and disadvantages of open questions
You get opinions + details info.
More in depth.
Give participants freedom.
Increased ecological validity.
Can’t be put in graphs. Harder to compare. Can’t calculate mean. Harder to analyse. Time consuming. A lot of irrelevant data. Low retention rate. Researcher bias.
Advantages and disadvantages of rating scales.
Gives more options than yes or no answer.
Can be easily converted to quantitative data which is simple to analyse and compare between participants/ groups.
Different interpretations of the terms.
Only a set number of options.
Standard response set.
Doesn’t tell you why they responded that way.
What’s a structured interview?
Advantages
Disadvantages
The interviewer asks the same questions to each participant in the same order. Closed questions are often used, with the interviewee picking the answer that is closest to their own view.
Standardised, can compare and analyse, increase reliability.
Lack of ecological validity- superficial.
Not honest answers because they feel uncomfortable.
Restrictive- may miss out on useful info.
What’s a semi-structured interview?
Advantages
Disadvantages
The interviewer will have a set of pre-prepared questions to ask and is expected to ask all of them; other questions will be developed during the interview in response to answers given by the interviewee.
More trustworthy for participants as more conversational.
Higher ecological validity.
Still some quantitative data to analyse and compare results.
Qualitative data rich.
Not as high reliability as participants have varying questions.
Harder to compare between participants.
What’s an unstructured interview?
Advantages
Disadvantages
The researcher has topics to discuss but these don’t have to be in the same order for each participant. The interview is more like a conversation, with further questions being developed in response to the interviewee’s answers.
High ecological validity.
High rapport between participants and researcher- higher validity.
Lots of detailed qualitative data collected that otherwise might be missed.
Low reliability.
Broad range of topics covered so hard to summarise and analyse.
Hard to compare between participants.
Time consuming (?).
Advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires.
More confidential- less social desirability bias. Less time consuming. Good amount of data collected. Large samples. Slower SDB.
Lower internal reliability. Standard response set. Researcher must be careful with the questions they ask but this may be better for socially sensitive subjects. Lack ecological validity. Response rate. Untruthful response.
Interviews advantages and disadvantages.
More personal and can explain.
Different types of structure to suit research aim.
Can get a combination of of qualitative and quantitative data.
Real body language and tone.
Build rapport so they might be more honest.
More time consuming.
Social desirability bias.
Unreliable if semi-structured or unstructured.
May lack ecological validity.
Time consuming as interviews are done one at a time.
Confidentiality.
Leading questions
Answers won’t be accurate.
They will give answers they are led to give.
Don’t ask leading questions.
Social desirability bias.
Answers won’t be accurate.
Give answers that made them look better.
Make it anonymous.
Make it a questionnaire.
Forced- choice questions.
Answers won’t be accurate.
They are forced into answer.
Have an ‘other’ box.
Turn into an open question.
Demand characteristics
The answers won’t be accurate.
They’re giving answers they think the researcher wants.
Don’t tell them the aim.
Smokescreen questions.
Standard response set.
Answers won’t be accurate.
They’re not looking at or reading the questions.
Could do an interview.
Use a mix of closed and open questions.
Swap the scales so they have to read the question.
Respondents asked to record their name on questionnaire or have it written against their interview answers.
Answers might not be accurate.
Respondents may lie.
Social desirability bias.
Make it a questionnaire/ make it anonymous.
Researcher bias
The results might not be accurate.
The researcher lies to fit their hypothesis.
Another researcher.
An independent researcher (not involved in the study).
