Self report techniques Flashcards
what are self report techniques
any method in which a person is asked to state or explain their own feelings, opinions, behaviours and/or experiences related to a given topic
what are the self report techniques
- questionnaire
- structured interview
- unstructured interview
- semi-structured interview
what are questionnaires
a pre-set list of written questions to which the ppt responds to assess someone’s thoughts and feelings
what are the strengths of questionnaires
- cost effective
- gather large amounts quickly
- completed with researcher present
- data usually easy to analyse
- data can be used for statistical analysis
what are the weaknesses of questionnaires
- responses may not always be truthful- ppts may want to present themselves in a good way and influence answers
- form of demand characteristics called social desirability bias
- often produce a response bias
what is a structured interview
a predetermined set of questions asked in a fixed order
what are the strengths of a structured interview
- easy and straightforward to replicate
- reduces differences between interviews
- analysis is straightforward
what are weaknesses of a structured interview
- cannot deviate from topic or explain questions
- limits richness of data collected as well as limit unexpected information
what is an unstructured interview
no set questions and works like a conversation with a general topic, questions develop based off responses
what are the strengths of an unstructured interview
- more flexibility
- more likely to gain insight of the ppt
what are the weaknesses of an unstructured interview
- increase risk of interviewer bias
- difficult to analyse
- researcher has to go through irrelevant info and drawing conclusions may be hard
what is a semi-structured interview
a sort of interview that someone would encounter in everyday life e.g. job interview- there is a list of questions worked out in advance but interviewers are free to ask follow up questions based on answers
what are the strengths and weaknesses of a structured interview
both of structured and unstructured