self-report techniques Flashcards
what is an open question?
questions that don’t have a fixed range of answers + respondents are free to answer in any way they want to
what data does an open question tend to produce?
qualitative data (as they tend to contain a wide range of responses)
give an example of an open question
e.g. what are your views on…?
what is one advantage of open questions?
participants are able to justify their answers a bit more
what is one disadvantage of open questions?
they can be difficult to quantify - the process becomes more difficult when you are analysing a large number of questionnaires
what is a closed question?
questions that offer a fixed number of responses
how do closed questions produce both quantitative + qualitative data?
a ‘yes/no’ question produces qualitative data, but this can be turned into quantitative data if we count the number of ‘yes/no’ responses
give an example of a closed question
e.g. do you agree with…?
what is one advantage of closed questions?
they are quick + easy to process
what is one disadvantage of closed questions?
they can limit respondents’ answers as they can’t explain in detail
list 2 strengths of questionnaires
~ they can gather large amounts of data quickly as they can be distributed to lots of people
~ they can be completed without the researcher being present, which reduces effort involved
true or false?
questionnaires are cost-effective
true
list 2 limitations of questionnaires
~ social desirability bias (responses may not always be truthful)
~ participants may not understand a question (and can’t ask researcher to explain it) so will tick any box regardless of what they think
what is one disadvantage of distributing questionnaires en masse?
they may attract a certain type of respondent (e.g. keen participants) which could limit generalisability to a whole population
which type of interview is most similar to a questionnaire?
structured interview
which type of interview is most common in everyday life?
semi-structured interview (e.g. job interview)
which type of interview is most similar to a conversation?
unstructured interview
what are structured interviews made up of?
a pre-determined set of questions that are asked in a fixed order
true or false?
there are set questions in an unstructured interview
false - there are no set questions
how is interaction between interviewer/interviewee in an unstructured interview?
interaction tends to be free-flowing - interviewee is encouraged to expand/elaborate their answers as prompted by interviewer
what is included in a semi-structured interview?
a list of questions that have been worked out in advance, but interviewers are also free to ask follow-up questions based on previous answers
list 2 strengths of structured interviews
~ straightforward to replicate due to standardised format
~ the format recues differences between interviewers
list 1 limitation of structured interviews
it isn’t possible for interviewers to deviate from the topic or explain their questions further - this will limit richness of data collected + will limit unexpected information
list 2 strengths of unstructured interviews
~ more flexibility than in a structured interview
~ interviewer can follow up points as they arise + is more likely to gain more insight
what could follow-up points from an interviewer lead to?
an increased risk of interviewer bias
what is interviewer bias?
when any aspect of the interviewer could influence interviewee’s responses
list 2 limitations of unstructured interviews
~ there is a risk of social desirability bias
~ analysis of data is not straightforward - researcher may have to sift through lots of irrelevant information + drawing firm conclusions may be difficult
