Self Report Designs Flashcards
What 3 elements are key to writing good questions?
- Clarity
- Bias
- Analysis
Summarise why clarity is important when writing good questions?
- The questions need to be written so the respondant understands what is being asked.
- There should be NO AMBIGUITY or double meanings.
- The use of DOUBLE MEANINGS reduced clarity.
- There should be NO DOUBLE BARRELLED questions.
Give an example of a question that uses double negatives.
Are you AGAINST BANNING capital punishment?
Give an example of a double barrelled question?
Do you suffer from sickness AND headaches?
Summarise why avoiding bias is important when writing good questions?
- Bias can lead to a participant giving a particular answer.
- Social desirability bias; some participants may give answers to make themselves look better, instead of being totally truthful.
- Bias reduces reliability.
Summarise why analysis is important when writing good questions?
- The questions need to be written so it’s easy to analyse; the type of questions used can affect this.
What are the 2 types of questions that can affect analysis?
- Open questions.
- Closed questions.
What are open questions?
- There is no set response; each may be different.
- Can give greate detail/new insights to researchers.
Give a limitation of open questions.
They produce qualitative data which can be more challenging to analyse/summarise, maing clear patterns/conclusions harder to detect.
What are closed questions?
- There is a set range of possible answers e.g yes/no questions.
- They are easier to analyse as they produce quantitative data.
Give a limitation of closed questions.
They may not truly reflect the participants thoughts/feelings.
What are filler questions and why are they important when writing a good questionaire?
- They are irrelevent questions that help to distract participants from the main purpose of the study.
- They reduce demand characteristics.
Why is the sequence of the questions important when writing a good questionaire?
It is best to start with easy questions and save those that could make participants anxious or defensive, until they have relaxed.
When writing a good questionaire, why is the sampling technique to be considered? Which sampling technique do questionares usually use?
- It refers to how participants are selected.
- Questionaires often use stratified sampling.
What is a pilot study?
A smaller trial of the research, meaning the questionaire can be refined based on any difficulties encountered before the main study takes place.
Summarise what is meant by recording the interview?
- The interviewer may take notes during an interview BUT this can interfere with them listening.
- They may not write everything down which can make the respondant feel a sense of evaluation.
- Therefore, the researcher may video/audio record the interview.
Why is the effect of the interviewer significant in interviews? What is meant by this?
- The interviewers interest may increase the amount of information given by the participant.
- Researchers must be aware of behaviours that show interest.
- Non-verbal communication: head nodding, leaning forward, encouraging NOT arms crossed and frowning.
- Listening skills: understanding when/how to speak, DON’T interupt, encouraging comments.
What is important about questioning skills in an unstructured interview?
- Specialist skills are required to be learned about the kinds of follow up questions that should be asked.
- Interviewers should be aware of the questions that have already been asked to avoid repetition.
- Avoid probing too much.
- Avoid asking ‘why’ too often.
- Interviewers should ask more focused questions; for the interviewee and for later analysis.
