Self Report Techniques

Question 1

What is a structured interview?

Answer 1

Where the questions asked are decided in advance and are not strayed away from

Question 2

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 2

These start with general questions but let the participant’s answers guide the following questions. More conversational than a structured interview

Question 3

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 3

A research instrument consisting of a series of written questions designed to gather informations from respondents

Question 4

What are the strengths and weaknesses of a structured interview?

Answer 4

STRENGTHS- easy to analyse as responses are short and lack detail
WEAKNESSES- there is no explanation to any responses, they are very vague which reduces validity

Question 5

What are the strengths and weaknesses of an unstructured interview?

Answer 5

STRENGTHS- much more detailed responses can be gathered as participants are free to talk about what they want, less likely to display any demand characteristics as they are the ones leading the interview
WEAKNESSES- responses are very long-> could lose concentration/ miss valuable information, time consuming as there is no set time limit

Question 6

What are the strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 6

STRENGTHS- relatively cheap and a quick way to gather data, responses are more likely to be honest as commonly anonymous
WEAKNESSES- social desirability issues may arise-> participants may give answers to look acceptable to the public, data may lack generalisability, questionnaires may be flawed if questions are poorly designed

Question 7

What is social desirability bias?

Answer 7

A distortion in the way people answer questions in order to place themselves in a better light