Self report techniques

• Self report techniques are a method used for collecting information from a large number of people by asking them questions using interviews or questionaires
• questionaires-They involve a pre-set list of

  written questions to which

  participant will responds.

  The participants give information

  to the researcher/provide details

  of their own feelings, thoughts or

  behaviour.

  A questionnaires may be used as

  part of an experiment to assess

  the dependent variable
• Closed Questions

  These are questions which can

  only be answered in a limited

  number of ways. E.g.

  • Tick box/Circle questions
  • ‘Rate on a scale of 1-5…..’

  They produce quantitative data.

  This is numerical data. Easy to

  analyse but to may lack the

  depth and detail .
• Open Questions

  These are questions which

  require the participant to write

  something for their answer. This

  means that no two responses will

  be the same.

  Contain a range of different

  responses (in-depth) but difficult

  to analyse

  They produce qualitative data.

  This is non numerical data.
• Postal Questionnaires

  These are posted to the homes

  of the participants. This is

  convenient but there does tend

  to be a low response rate.
• Internet Questionnaires

  Often companies will use websites

  (such as survey monkey) to collect

  opinions from participants. This can be

  cheaper than postal questionnaires (no

  stamps!) but can still suffer with a low

  response rate.
• Handed Out Questionnaires

  Sometimes researchers will directly hand out questionnaires. This has a high

  response rate as participants tend to fill them in there and then.
• Large amounts

  of data can be

  collected quickly.

  Standardised

  questions means

  that

  questionnaires

  can be

  replicated and

  thus reliability

  (consistency) can

  be checked

  Since questionnaires

  can be completed

  privately (and often

  anonymously),

  responses may be

  more likely to be

  honest.

  The data that

  questionnaires

  produce is usually

  straight forward to

  analyse
• What is social desirability bias?


  It is when participants give incorrect responses to appear socially acceptable.
• Why might social desirability bias be a problem in research?


  It can lead to inaccurate data as participants may not respond truthfully.
• How does distributing questionnaires via post or the internet affect data collection?


  It relies on responses being returned, which often results in poor response rates.
• What is a consequence of poor response rates in questionnaire distribution?


  It makes generalizing the sample results to a larger population unconvincing.
• What issue may arise if participants misinterpret questions in a questionnaire?


  They may be unable to ask for clarification.
• Why can leading questions in a questionnaire be problematic?


  They suggest a desired response through their wording, which can bias results.
• What are the main issues associated with questionnaires in research?

  • Social desirability bias may lead to inaccurate responses.
  • Poor response rates can make generalization unconvincing.
  • Misinterpretation of questions can occur without clarification.
  • Leading questions can bias results by suggesting desired responses.
• Interviews-

  A form of self-report technique but differ to

  questionnaires as they are face-to-face.

  • Useful for gathering more detailed

  information using a more flexible approach.

  • They involve the researcher asking questions

  specific to the research aim for the interviewee

  to answer.

  • The answers given are recorded by the

  researcher. The data is later analysed, and

  conclusions drawn
• Structured: pre-determined set of questions that are

  asked cannot be deviated from can be conducted face

  to face or over the phone.
• Unstructured: More like a conversation (free-flow).

  The interviewer does not have set questions so

  each interview will usually differ. In order to maximise

  the information gathered, the interviewer encourages

  interviewees to expand and elaborate on their

  answers
• Semi Structured: There is a set list of questions

  decided in advance but the interviewer will ask

  follow up questions based on the interviewee

  responses. E.g The GP will ask certain planned

  questions but then asks new unplanned questions

  based on your answers.
• Advantage of structured interviews -

  Structured interviews are easy to replicate

  as a fixed set of closed questions are used,

  which are easy to quantify – this means it is

  easy to test for reliability.

  Structured interviews are fairly quick to

  conduct which means that many

  interviews can take place within a short

  amount of time.
• Disadvantage of structured interviews

  The answers from structured interviews

  lack detail so your unable to get a true

  (whole) picture.

  Structure interviews are not flexible. This

  means new questions cannot be asked.
• Advantage of unstructured interviews -

  Unstructured interviews are more flexible as

  questions can be adapted and changed

  depending on the respondents’ answers.

  Can encourage honesty as a relationship could

  be developed between interviewer and

  interviewee.

  They also have increased validity because it

  gives the interviewer the opportunity to probe

  for a deeper understanding.
• Disadvantage of unstructured interview -

  It can be time-consuming to conduct an

  unstructured interview and analyse the qualitative

  data (using methods such as thematic analysis).

  Interviewer bias might undermine the validity of

  unstructured interviews – this is where the values

  of the researcher interfere with the results.
• Semi structured interviews are questions that have been worked out in advance but interviewers are free to ask follow up questions based on previous answers