self-report techniques Flashcards
What is a self-report technique?
Methods where a person is asked to state their feelings, experiences, behaviours and opinions on a certain topic.
What is an example of a self-report technique?
Questionnaires and interviews.
What is a questionnaire?
Pre-prepared list of questions used to analyse a person’s thoughts, experiences, opinions, etc.
What is an open questions?
Doesn’t have a fixed range of answers and participants are free to answer however they like.
What is a closed questions?
Fixed number of responses and participants must answer using the answers provided.
What is a strength of questionnaires?
Cost-effective as the data can be collected easily.
Reduced effort as the researcher does not need to be there directly.
Data produced is straightforward and can easily be added to comparisons between groups of people can be made using charts and graphs.
What is a limitation of questionnaires?
Demand characteristics.
Social desirability.
Response bias where respondent may reply in a similar way, such as always ticking ‘yes’ on the answers - acquiescence bias.
What is an interview?
Face-to-face or on the phone where one person asks questions to another person about their thoughts and experiences. Questions may be prepared beforehand and can be interpreted during the interview.
What is an example of an interview?
Structured, unstructured and semi-structured.
What is a structured interview?
Consist of prepared questions that are asked in a specific order. Like a questionnaire but is face-to-face in real time. Interviewer asks questions, waiting for response.
What is an unstructured interview?
Like a conversation and there is no set, prepared questions. There is a topic that is discussed but the interviewer remains free flowing. Interviewer encourages the interviewee to elaborate on their answers when prompted.
What is a semi-structured interview?
List of questions that have been prepared beforehand, but interviewers can ask follow-up questions based on previous answers.
What is a strength of structured interviews?
Easy to replicate as they are standardised?
What is a limitation of a structured interview?
Data is limited as the format may be restricting?
What is a strength of unstructured interviews?
More flexibility as researchers can gain insight, including unexpected information.
What is a limitation of unstructured interviews?
Interviewer bias risk meaning expectations of them interferes with the researcher of the participant.
Increased risk of participants lying, meaning increased chance of social desirability.
