Self-report techniques Flashcards
What does open questions allow people to do?
allows them to express what they think in their own words
Why may interviews not be the best method to use for researching sensitive topics?
people may feel more comfortable completing the questionnaire in private
What is a structured interview?
qualitative research method where the interviewer has a set of prepared, closed-ended questions
standardised format
What are the strengths of a structured interview?
easy to replicate (therefore easy to test for reliability)
fairy quick to conduct (means a large sample can be obtained resulting in findings being more representative)
What are the limitations of a structured interview?
interviews aren’t flexible, impromptu questions can’t be asked
answers lack detail as only closed questions are asked (resulting in quantitative data)
What is an unstructured interview?
they don’t use any set questions
open-ended questions used
interview flows more like a conversation
What are strengths of an unstructured interview?
more flexible and can be changed depending on respondents’ answers
generate qualitative date which helps researcher to develop a full understanding of a situation
increased validity as researcher can ask for clarification
What are limitations of an unstructured interview?
time-consuming (qualitative data)
training interviewers and employing them is more expensive than questionnaires
What is a questionnaire?
series of questions for the purpose of gathering information from respondents
What are closed questions?
structure the answer by only allowing responses which fit intro pre-decided categories
e.g. yes, no
can provide ordinal data
Strengths of closed questions?
they are economical (low cost even with a large sample) therefore large sample can be easily obtained
questions are standardised therefore can be replicated easily to check for reliability
Limitations of closed questions
they lack detail
What are open questions?
they allow people to express what they think in their own words
better to gather more in-depth answers
Strengths of open questions?
rich qualitative data is obtained
Limitations of open questions?
time-consuming (therefore may require a smaller sample)
Not suitable for less educated respondents as open questions require superior writing skills and ability to express one’s feelings
