Self-report techniques

• What is a questionnaire?

  a set of written questions used to assess a persons thoughts and or experiences
• what is an open question?

  • responders free to answer in any way they wish
  • Produce qualitative data
• what is a closed questionnaire?

  • pre-determined, fixed set of questions
  • quantitative data
• why are questionnaires good?

  • distributed to a large number of people
  • Researcher does not need to be present
• why may questionnaires not be good?

  • social desirability bias-responders may not be truthful
  • response bias- respond in a similar way
• what is an interview?

  a live encounter where an interviewer assesses an interviewees thoughts
• what is a structure interview?

  pre-determined set of questions asked in a fixed order.
• evaluate structured interviews?

  • strengths- easy to replicate, standardised
  • limitation- cannot deviate from topic or elaborate
• what is an unstructured interview?

  There are no set questions but certain topics are discussed, answers are encouraged to be elaborated
• evaluate unstructured interviews?

  • strength- more insight
  • Limitation- analysis difficult
• what is a semistructured interview?

  list of questions have been worked out in advance. interviewer free to ask follow-up questions