self-report methods

• what are the two types of self-report methods?

  questionnaires and interviews
• what are the two types of questions on questionnaires?

  open and closed
• what does it mean by the term self-report?

  • a method of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interference from the experimenter
  • such techniques include questionnaires and interviews
• what are questionnaires ?

  a written self-report technique where participants are given a pre-set number of questions to respond to.

  • they can be administered in person, by post, online or over the telephone or a group of participants simultaneously
• what are open questions?

  where there are no restrictions on how participants make their response so they can elaborate
• what are closed questions?

  where there are a pre-determined set of answers to choose from
• what type of question is this an example of:

  how do you see your future?

  open
• what type of question is this an example of:

  do you exercise? circle yes or no

  closed
• what type of data does open ended questions produce?

  qualitative data as it allows participants to provide a response in their own words which helps to develop insights into the nature of subjective experiences, opinions and feelings
• what type of data does closed questions produce?

  quantitative data as it is data that can be statistically analysed, because they produce numerical data and can be put into categories
• evaluation: what are the strengths of questionnaires

  • relatively cheap and quick way to gather large amounts of data
  • can be completed anonymously participants are more likely to be honest
• evaluation: what are the weaknesses of questionnaires

  • social desirability issues may arise
  • response rates are low (through the post)
  • acquiescence bias is likely to be present
• what is acquiescence bias ?

  the tendency to agree with items on a questionnaire regardless of the contents on the question
• what are interview?

  self-report techniques that involve an experimenter asking participants questions (generally on a one-to-one basis) and recording their response

  • can either be face-to-face or on the telephone
• what are the three types of interviews?

  • structured
  • unstructured
  • semi-structured
• what are structured interviews?

  Interviews that follow a predetermined set of questions that are fixed in order and the interviewer waits for a reply
• what are unstructured interviews?

  Interviews that do not follow a predetermined set of questions and allow for open-ended responses. They follow a general aim which will be discussed and it tends to be free-flowing as the interviewer prompts them to expand on their answers
• what are semi-structured interviews?

  Interviews with a set of predetermined questions but also allow for follow-up questions and flexibility.
• evaluation: strengths of structured interviews

  • easy to replicate due to standardised format
  • analysing of data is more straightforward and produces statistical results
• evaluation: weaknesses of structured interviews

  • not possible for interviewers to deviate from the topic or elaborate so it is a source of frustration and means there is a lack of detail
• evaluation: strengths of unstructured interviews

  • can gather rich and detailed information from each participant more so than questionnaires
  • the conversational nature means it is best suited to discussing complex issues
• evaluation: weaknesses of unstructured interviews

  • higher chance of social desirability
  • time and expense of training interviewers to conduct them
• evaluation: strengths of semi-structured interviews

  • can prepare questions beforehand to help guide the conversation but it also allows for open-ended responses for more in depth information
• evaluation: weaknesses of semi-structured interviews

  • they are time-consuming so it is difficult to conduct and difficult to analyse