self report techniques- research methods

Question 1

questionnaires

Answer 1

involve pre set list of written questions to which pps responds
uuse questionnaires to assess thoughts or feelings or used to assess dependent variable

Question 2

open and closed questions

Answer 2

open-does not have fixed range of answers and respondents free to answer in any way they wish, produce qualitative data that contains wide range o different responses but ma be difficult to analyse
closed- fixed number of responses, quantitative data easy to analyse but may lack depth

Question 3

structured interviews

Answer 3

pre determined set of questions that are asked in fixed order
confucted face to face or over the phone in real time

Question 4

unstructured interviews

Answer 4

no st questions
general aim certain topic discussed
interaction tends to be free flowing
interviewee encourage to expand and elaborate their answers as prompted

Question 5

semi structured interviews

Answer 5

list of questions that have been worked out in advance but interviewers able to ask follow up questions based on previous answers

Question 6

strengths of questionnaires

Answer 6

cost effective
gather large amounts of data quickly because distrubuted to large numbers of people
can be completed without researcher being present which reduces effort involved
data produced straightforward to analyse
data lends itself to statistical analysis and comparisons between grups of people can be made using graphs and charts

Question 7

limitations of questionnaires

Answer 7

responses may not be truthful
keen to present themselves in positive light influence their responses- social desirability bias
response bias-responsdents reply in similar way- complete questionnaire too quickly and fail to read questions properly

Question 8

structured interview eval

Answer 8

+straightforward to replicate due to their standardised format, reduces differences between interviewers
- not possible for interviewers to deviate from the topic or explain their questions, limit the richness of the data collected as well as limit unexpected info

Question 9

unstructured interviews eval

Answer 9

+more flexibility, interviewr can folow up points as they arise and is more likely to gain insight into the worldview of the interviewee including eleiciting unexpected info
-lead to icnreased risk of interviewer bias, analysis of data is not straightforward, might have to sift through irrelevant info and drawing firm conflusions may be difficult
- risk interviewees lie for reasons of social desirbaility
+skilled and experienced interviewer should be able to establish sufficient rapport with pps so even when sensitive and personal topics discussed any responses more truthful