Self Report techniques and designs (questionnaires and interviews) Flashcards
What is a self-report technique?
Where the participant gives information to the researcher, providing details of their own feelings and behaviour
what a could self report technique involve?
Responding to questions on the questionnaire, or during an interview
What is a questionnaire?
A technique using a structured set of questions, for asking a large sample of people about their views and behaviours
Where may questionnaire surveys be conducted?
in person, by telephone, by post and via the internet
what can the questions in a questionnaire be?
can be closed (require a simple answer) or open-ended (answer in own words)
What are the strengths of questionnaires?
-more truthful responses
-Simplicity
-less social desirability bias
-easy to reproduce
why may questionnaires have more truthful responses? (strength)
-because they can remain anonymous
-This leads to more reliable data
why do questionnaires have simplicity? (strength)
-once constructed and piloted, questionnaires can be carried out with a minimum of training, unlike interviews, which require a researcher to be trained
-This means it is possible to access a large group of participants more easily
Why do questionnaires have a less social desirability bias? (strength)
participants may feel less pressure to conform (increases validity)
Why are questionnaires being easy to reproduce a strength?
-once the questionnaire has been created, it can be copied many times and distributed (in comparison to an interview)
-Increases population validity
What are the limitations of questionnaires?
-More misunderstandings
-Unrepresentable sample
why may there be more misunderstandings in a questionnaire?
-The way the question is worded may influence the responses given so the answers are not a true reflection of the participant
-For example, complex questions can be misunderstood, so maybe skipped or an invalid response is provided whereas in an interview researcher can be asked for clarification
why can more misunderstandings decrease validity?
Only people who understand the questions can do it
how can biased samples be created by questionnaires? (limitation)
-only the people that are most willing to respond, will return the questionnaire, meaning that the sample may not be representative of the population. (decreases population
validity)
What are interviews?
-any face-to-face situation where one person (the interviewer) ask a series of questions to another person (the respondent)
what may interview questions be?
-The questions can be predetermined (structured), or created in response to answers (unstructured), or a mixture of the two types (semi-structure)
What’s are structured interviews?
Set of pre-determined questions
what are strengths of structured interviews?
-Replication is possible because standardised questions are used- answers from different participants can be compared and answers are easier to analyse compared to unstructured
-Any misunderstood questions can be explained this is advantageous compared to questionnaires and improves the validity of the answers given
What are limitations of structured interviews?
-social desirability bias- interviewees may give answers they think will create a favourable impression
-Requires a skilled personnel- need to be trained in effective interviewing skills, this would not be necessary with a questionnaire
What are unstructured interviews?
questions created in response to answers
what are the strengths of unstructured interviews?
Rich due to the use of open ended questions- all types of interviews can collect rich, detailed data of both complex and personal issues
-Flexibility- structured interviews can enable complex issues to be explored in further depth by tailoring questions, which may not be possible with other methods, such as structured interviews and questionnaires
what are the limitations of unstructured interviews?
-requires skilled personnel, especially due to the need to develop new questions on the spot- interviewers need training
-more difficult to analyse the data due to lack of standardised questions and amount of data gathered
what should the questions be when structuring a questionnaire or an interview?
-clear
-free from bias
-Lead to answers that are easy to analyse
What are aspects to consider when constructing appropriate questions?
-sequence of questions
-Filler questions
-Options questions
-Avoid leading questions
-Avoid presumptive questions
-avoid double barrel questions
-avoid social desirability questions
How do you improve the sequence of questions? (constructing appropriate questions)
start with easier factual questions to relax the respondent
what are filler questions and why should they be used? (constructing appropriate questions)
-including some irrelevant questions to distract the respondent from the main purpose of the survey
- May reduce demand characteristics
what are options questions? (constructing appropriate questions)
ensure options are clear and cannot be interpreted differently
why should you avoid leading questions? (constructing appropriate questions)
they prompt respondents to respond in a certain way
Why should you avoid presumptive questions? (constructing appropriate questions)
they assume respondents are able to answer
Why should you avoid double-barrelled questions? (constructing appropriate questions)
combining two or more questions, make it confusing to answer
why should social desirability bias be avoided? (constructing appropriate questions)
asking questions that are sensitive, can lead respondents to answering in a way that they think is acceptable rather than truthful
What are the features of questionnaire design?
-Closed and opened questions
what are closed questions? (questionnaire design)
-Require simple answers, with no option for expansion
-typically, the questionnaire will provide a fixed number of responses from which the participants selects the one that applies to them
what are examples of closed questions? (questionnaire design)
-likert scales- (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
-rating scales
what do closed questions obtaining numbers produce?
-quantitative data which are easy to analyse
what do closed question answers often lack.
Depth and detail associated with other questions
what are open questions? (questionnaire design)
-allow for the respondent to answer freely without constraint
what type of data do open questions lead to?
they allow the respondent to develop their viewpoint and answer more in depth often providing rich qualitative data.
what may the answers from open questions be difficult to do? (questionnaire design)
-They may be difficult to analyse
what is a structured interview? (interview design)
-questions are decided in advance
-They are easier to replicate and answers can be easier to analyse, but the questions are more restrictive
what type of questions do structured interviewers contain? (interview design)
-fixed set of predetermined questions (1-10)
what’s a unstructured interviews? (interview design)
-an interview starts with a question or topic, but forms further questions based on answers given by the interviewee.
-They provide rich data, but are difficult to analyse
what should the skill of the interviewer be like? (interview design.)
interviewers should be trained to ensure they can build rapport with interviewees to put them at ease to gain full and detailed answers
How is the reliability of questionnaires improved?
-A questionnaire with low test-retest reliability may require that some of the items be removed or rewritten so participants have a consistent understanding of
How is the reliability of an interview improved?
-use same interviewer each time, if not possible, all interviewers must be similarly trained in order to record interviewee responses in a consistent manner
why are structured interviews more likely to be reliable than unstructured?
due to having ctrl over the fixed questions compared to the free flowing nature of unstructured interviews
How can the internal validity of self report techniques be improved?
-If a pilot study reveals participants have misunderstood a question, the
items can be revised, replaced or omitted.
-Lie scale involves including certain questions to assess if a participant is being truthful. If they aren’t, their responses can be omitted.
-Assuring respondents that data will be anonymous may encourage them to be more honest.
How can the population validity (EV) of self report techniques be improved?
-may be low if a certain type of person provides responses.
-can be improved by using a more randomised sample method to obtain a
more varied sample.
How can the population validity (EV) of self report techniques be improved?
-may be low if a certain type of person provides responses.
-can be improved by using a more randomised sample method to obtain a
more varied sample.
How can the temporal validity (EV) of self report techniques be improved?
-may be low if questions being asked are specific to an earlier time period.
-Such questions will need updating to ensure they are understood by participants in a later era.
