self - report techniques Flashcards
self report technique - definition
a person is asked to state or explain their own feelings related to a given topic
questionnaire - definition
a set of written questions used to access a person’s thoughts and/or experiences
interview - definition
a live encounter where one person asks a set of questions to assess and interviewees thoughts and/or experiences
structured interviews
made up of pre determined set of questions that are in a fixed order
what does closed questions produce ?
produce quantitative data which would lack the depth and detail associated with open questions
what is questionnaires used as a part of an experiment to assess ?
dependent variable
open questions
does not have a fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer in any way they wish
what does open questions produce ?
qualitative data that contains a wide range of different responses may be difficult to analyse
closed questions
offer a fixed number of responses
semi structured interviews
- list of questions that have been work out in advance
- interviewee is free to ask follow up questions
what are the limitations of the self report technique ?
- ppl are not always accurate or objective when they provide info
- social desirability bias
evaluation of questionnaires - strength
- data can be collected quicker
- less likely to be affected by investigator effects
evaluation of questionnaires - limitations
- poor quality of data
- more biased
open questions - strengths
- answers are more representative so more valid
- detailed answers
closed questions - strengths
- response easier to count up
- easier and faster to answer
- easier to recruit ppt so more representative
evaluation of structured interviews - strengths
- more reliable than unstructured
evaluation of structured interviews - limitations
- not possible for interviewers to deviate from the topic or explain their questions - limit the richness
evaluation of unstructured interviews - strength
- more flexibility - can follow up questions as they arise and more likely to gain insight into the world view of the interviewee
evaluation of unstructured interviews - limitations
- increased risk of interviewer bias
- irrelevant info and drawing firm conclusions may be difficult
- risk they may lie for reasons of social desirability
social desirability bias
to answer questions in an attempt to gain the approval of other
interviewer bias
distorts responses, especially when the characteristics relate in some way to the research topic
response bias
where the respondents does not answer truthfully