self-report - part 1 interviews

Question 1

what is a self-report technique

Answer 1

methods of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without experimenters interfering

Question 2

what are examples of self-report methods

Answer 2

questionnaires, interviews diaries etc. usually require giving responses to pre-set questions

Question 3

strength - feelings

Answer 3

participants can be asked about their feelings and cognitions, this is more useful than simply observing behaviour alone

Question 4

strength - hypothetical

Answer 4

scenarios can be asked about hypothetically without physically setting them up and observing participants behaviour

Question 5

weakness - feelings

Answer 5

gathering information about thoughts or feelings is only useful is participants are willing to disclose them to the experimenter

Question 6

weakness - responses and social desirability bias

Answer 6

participants may try to give the correct response they think researchers are looking for or try to come across in a more socially acceptable way (social desirability bias) - this can lead to giving untruthful responses

Question 7

what are unstructured interviews

Answer 7

they’re like a casual conversation. there are no set questions and the participant or interviewer can raise whatever topics they feel relevant (flexibility) qualitative data is likely to be collected

Question 8

what are structured interviews

Answer 8

they are like a job interview. there is a fixed predetermined set of questions put to every participant in the same order and same way. interviewer stays in their role and maintains social distance from intervieew. quantitative data

Question 9

what are semi-structured interviews

Answer 9

interviewer does not strictly follow a formalised list of questions, they instead ask more open ended questions, allowing for a discussion

Question 10

strength - unstructured interview - data

Answer 10

Provides in-depth, detailed qualitative data as the interviewer can explore topics more freely.

Question 11

strength - unstructured interview - rapport

Answer 11

Builds rapport with the interviewee, making them more comfortable to share honest responses

Question 12

weakness - unstructured interview - standardisation

Answer 12

Difficult to replicate due to lack of standardization, reducing reliability.

Question 13

weakness - unstructured interview - time

Answer 13

Data analysis is time-consuming and may introduce researcher bias.

Question 14

strength - structured interview - reliability

Answer 14

Easy to replicate due to pre-set questions, increasing reliability.

Question 15

strength - structured interview - time

Answer 15

Quick and straightforward to administer, making it suitable for large-scale studies

Question 16

weakness - structured interview - flexibility

Answer 16

Lacks flexibility, so important or unexpected insights may be missed.

Question 17

weakness - structured interview - rapport

Answer 17

May feel impersonal, making it harder to establish rapport with the interviewee.

Question 18

general weakness - training

Answer 18

a lot of time and expense involved when training interviewers - especially with unstructured interviews

Question 19

general weakness - participant skills

Answer 19

interviews require participants to have basic competencies for interviews to be successful like communication skills. can limit sample size and representativeness of the population if not met

Question 20

general strength - pilot study

Answer 20

interviews can be used as a part of a pilot study to gather information prior to conducting proposed research