Self report and ethical considerations

• What is self report ?

  The self-report is the most widely-used method in the psychologist's toolkit because it gathers information from large numbers of participants.Self-reports are opposed to observations – they include interviews and questionnaires.
• Structured interviews:

  • Questions are decided in advance
  • all participants are asked the same questions
  • easy to compare and replicates
  • difficult to expand on interesting answers
• Semi-structured interviews:

  • some guidelines about the questions but the timing and phrasing are up to the interviewer
  • questions may develop from participant responses
  • interesting answers can be explored- validity
  • questions are not reliable so cannot be replicated
  • interviewer bias present
• Unstructured interviews:

  • not fixed questions
  • interviewer can clarify if necessary
  • rich data is gathered and ecologically valid
  • interviewers need to be highly trained
• What are closed questions?

  a simple tick or cross of the questionnaire
• What is a likert scale?

  Answers are usually do you agree, strongly agree etc
• what is a semantic differential scale?

  unhelpful -1,0,1,2,3 helpful
• What are open questions?

  Participants can answer freely
• evaluating questionnaires:


  + generate both qualitative and quantitative data

  +large a amounts of data

  +quick and easy

  -may not understand the questions

  -social desirability bias

  -leading questions
• usual ethical guidelines to follow:

  • consent
  • deception
  • debriefing
  • right to withdraw
  • privacy
  • protection of participants
• Deception in research:

  • Menges reviewed over 1000 psychological studies in American and found that over 80% unvalued not giving participants full information about the study
• Informed consent in research:

  • revealing the true nature of the study can affect results
  • children under 16 may not full understand impacting their ability to fully give informed consent
  • Nedd to give participants- prior general consent, presumptive consent and consent off parents
• What re the main three guilds the BPS need to adhere?

  1. deception
  2. informed consent
  3. protection of participants
• How does Milgram's study neglect ethical guidelines?

  Milgram deceived his participants because of they knew the aim of the study they would have not acted in a naturalistic way. If they were aware the shocks were fake then they would have no experienced the situation as stressful- responding differently.

  Argued that Milgram deceived the participants to protect the integrity of the investigation
• What are the consequences of deception?

  • participants are unable to give informed consent
  • the research nay be restricted to ensure that participants are not unduly harmed
  • The BPS states that deception must be avoided wherever possible unless it harms the integrity of an investigation and participants must be informed at the earliest possible opportunity about the deception.