Self-report technique

• What is Self Report technique?

  Formal definition - Is a method of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interference from the experimenter.

  Sometimes the most straightforward way of understanding why people behave in the way they do is to ask them. This is the Self-report Method
• What is Self Report technique?

  Formal definition - Is a method of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interference from the experimenter.

  Sometimes the most straightforward way of understanding why people behave in the way they do is to ask them. This is the Self-report Method

  Includes: Interviews, Questionnaires and Diaries
• Evaluation of self report techniques

  Strengths:

  • Participants can be asked about their feelings and cognitions (i.e. thoughts), which can be more useful than simply observing behaviour alone.
  • Scenarios can be asked about hypothetically without having to physically set them up and observe participants’ behaviour.
• Evaluation of self report techniques

  Weaknesses:

  • Gathering information about thoughts or feelings is only useful if participants are willing to disclose them to the experimenter.
  • Participants may try to give the ‘correct’ responses they think researchers are looking for (or deliberately do the opposite), or try to come across in most socially acceptable way (i.e. social desirability bias), which can lead to giving untruthful responses.
• When you are asking someone to tell you about themselves you can use a questionnaire or an interview

  -Questionnaires are structured and have pre set questions.

  -Interviews can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured
• Questionnaires

  They are structured and respondents record their own answers.

  It can be used as an experiment to assess the dependent variable.

  Example: whether views on the legislation of specific recreational drugs are different in older and younger people
• Outline of questionnaires

  Questionnaires contain pre-set questions. These questions can be either open or closed

  Open questions: Don’t have a fixed range of responses so the participant is more free to answer in as much or as little detail as they wish
• Outline of questionnaires

  Open questions Strengths:

  Open questions tend to produce more numerical (qualitative) data - rich in detail and depth

  Participants find open questions less frustrating as they can answer fully without constraint

  Answers can be used to establish avenues for further research
• Outline of questionnaires

  Open questions weakness:

  Difficult to replicate or analyse.
• Outline of questionnaires

  Questionnaires contain pre-set questions. These questions can be either open or closed

  Closed questions: Do have fixed answers but can collect either qualitative data (yes, no, other etc.) or quantitative data (on a scale of 1-10).
• Outline of questionnaires

  Closed questions Strengths:

  Closed questions are numerical quantitative data, and can be easier to analyse and can provide further context when used with open Qs

  Not as time consuming
• Outline of questionnaires

  Closed questions Weaknesses:

  Lacks the depth of open questions and you run the risk of your participant not fully agreeing with a yes/no answer.
• Evaluation of questionnaires

  Strengths

  -Cost-effective

   -useful if you want to responses from a large group of people.

  • easy to analyse if they have closed questions (multiple choice) or a rating scale.

  -data led itself to statistical analysis and comparison between group of people can be made using graphs and charts
• Limitations

  Response given may not be truthful. Respondents may be keen to present themselves in a positive light and this may influence their answer. This is a form of demand characteristic called social desirability bias
• Limitations

  • Can often produce response bias ( for example, always ticking the “yes” box)= because they complete the questionnaire to quickly and fail to read the Qs properly

  Acquiescence bias is a form of response bias= it the “yea-saying”, tendency to agree with items on a questionnaire regardless of the content of the Qs
• Interviews

  • Gathering information in response to face –to-face questioning
  • Questions can be clarified and expanded upon.
  • Answers can be explored in more detail modifying the set questions or asking new ones.
  • Allows Pts to be reassured and may improve the access to data
• Types of Interview 

  • Semi-structured: 

  Is more informal in that new questions are developed as you go along e.g., similar to what a GP might say in an interview.  A mixture of questions. 
• Types of Interview 

  • Structured: 

  Has predetermined questions, i.e. a question that is delivered face to face.  Usually involves closed ended questions for example, did you like the study Yes/No? 

  • Unstructured:

  Are very informal and start with a topic focus or aim and is more like a conversation with the direction being set by those involved around the topic
• Evaluations of Interviews 

  Strengths

  • Face-to-face interviews can tackle sensitive issues by ensuring that participant is relaxed and not upset about the subject matter 
  • Questions can be explained and adapted to reduce any misunderstanding
• Evaluations of Interviews 

  Strengths

  • Semi-structured interviews produce data that is both in words and is numerical. 
  • Structured interviews produce numerical that is easily analysed.
• Evaluations of Interviews 

  Weaknesses

  • Interviews are subject to both demand characteristics and social desirability. Interviewers may also bias responses from participants.
  • Interviews are not always suitable for everyone. (Some find it hard to express their feelings)
• Evaluations of Interviews 

  Weaknesses

  • Participants may not be informed of the true intent of the interview, or may reveal more than they intend to, which can lead to ethical issues