Self-Reports

• What is a self-report?

  It is a method of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interference from the experimenter
• What are examples of self-reports?

  Questionnaires and Interviews
• What is a questionnaire?

  A set of questions given in written form, they involve different types of questions such as open or closed questions
• What are the strengths of using a closed question?

  • It provides quantitative data
  • Easy to analyse and compare
• What are the weaknesses of using closed questions?

  • Responses are limited
  • They lack depth or detail
• What are the strengths of using open questions?

  • They provide qualitative data
  • Able to understand their explanation due to the detail
• What is a weakness of using open questions?

  • Difficult to compare results
• What is a Likert scale?

  A scale used to determine how much a participant agrees with a statement, this is achieved with a scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree
• What are the drawbacks of using a Likert scale?

  • Can be subjective as participants may interpret the scale differently
  • Introduces social desirability bias as participants are more likely to choose the middle option, which lacks validity
• What is response bias?

  The way participants answer questions which leads to inaccurate results, for example ticking the same box each time
• How do you reduce response bias?

  • Reverse half of the answers
  • Phrase the questions both positively and negatively
• What are semantic differentials?

  Participants place themselves on a line between two extremes, usually two contrasting adjectives, to measure attitude, for example boring and exciting
• What are the strengths of questionnaires?

  • Easy to administer
  • Used to gain data from a large sample or population
  • They are time and cost efficient
  • Closed questions are easy to compare and analyse
  • Open questions allow for personal perspectives and reasons
• What are the weaknesses of questionnaires?

  • There may be response bias
  • Participants may interpret questions differently or misunderstand them
  • Possible responses allocated for closed questions may not represent for the participants true answer
• What is an interview?

  A series of verbal questions given fact-to-face between an interviewer and an interviewee
• What are the three different types of interviews?

  • Structured interviews
  • Semi-structured interviews
  • Unstructured interviews
• What is a structured interview?

  Has predetermined questions that are asked in the same way and in the same order with each interviewee with no deviations
• What are the strengths of a structured interview?

  • Standardised procedure involved ensures that interviews are easily replicable
  • Quick and can be completed in the same time for each participant
  • Useful for ensuring methodological reliability due to standardisation
• What are the weaknesses of structured interviews?

  • Inflexibility of the interview questions means that some key details may missed as new questions cannot be raised during the interview
  • Only closed questions can be asked, so lacks detail
• What is a semi-structured interview?

  Have guidelines on which questions to ask and topics to cover, but can deviate and vary with each individual
• What are the strengths of a semi-structured interview?

  • Enables the researcher to gain additional details
  • Interviewers will cover the specified topics so data can be used for comparison
• What are the weaknesses of a semi-structured interview?

  • Difficult to use qualitative data gained from open or unique questions in statistical tests or when looking for patterns
  • Researcher bias can occur as the lack of structure could allow for leading questions that may alter responses
• What are unstructured interviews?

  No questions are pre-determined; all the questions are open and the process itself is more like a guided conversation than a formal interview
• What are the strengths of an unstructured interview?

  • Increased concurrent validity as the interviewer can offer clarification or reword questions when necessary
  • Flexibility of questions means they can be altered and added according to the responses given
  • Qualitative data is gained, allowing for highly detailed information
• What are the weaknesses of an unstructured interviews?

  • Interviews must not create bias through leading questions or body language, to avoid this they must be trained which is not cost-effective
  • Time consuming to interview each participant if the sample is large
  • Analysing and categorising the data is difficult, making it harder to make conclusions or find significant results
• How do you improve validity?

  • Remove any leading questions or opportunities for socially desirable responses
  • Add open questions that collect qualitative data
  • Ensure that the sample is representative and unbiased, achieved using random sampling or using a large sample
  • Using concurrent validity
• How to improve reliability?

  • Use methods such as split half, researcher asks similar questions, to compare for consistency and reliability
  • Ensure that procedures are standardised - train interviewers and write detailed instructions for questionnaires to avoid ambiguity
• What are some ethical issues?

  • Informed consent is expected
  • Any deception must be debriefed afterwards
  • Questions must not cause harm - it should not be too personal
  • Confidentiality - meaning no recording of names, so it remains anonymous