self report techniques

• interview

  research method in which a researcher asks another individual questions and records the answers they give
• structured interviews

  the questions are pre-determined and each interviewee is asked the same questions in the same order.
• unstructured

  free-flowing, open ended conversation in which the overall topic is pre-determined
• semi-structured

  based on an interview schedule which is a list of general topics to cover in order in the interview.
• friedman and rosenman

  used interviews to study 3,534 Californian men in their study of the relationship between personality type, resistance to stress and vulnerability to coronary heart disease.
• friedman and rosenman- type A personality

  highly competitive

  always plays to win- hates losing

  time pressured/deadline focused

  measure success in terms of productivity

  multi-tasking

  unhappy doing nothing

  self critical

  hostile to others

  hostility bottled up.
• friedman and rosenman- type B personality

  not competitive

  happy just taking part

  not time pressured

  measure success in terms of happiness

  one task at once

  happy doing nothing

  self accepting

  accepting of others
• AO3- STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS- ADVANTAGES

  -practical- quick to complete and process. easier to analyse- just compare the answers from different interviewees

  -requires less training than unstructured interviews

  -pre set list of questions ensures no topics or questions are omitted

  -less danger of investigator effects
• AO3- STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS- DISADVANTAGES

  -no opportunity for the researcher to prompt and probs the subject by asking them to elaborate and explain their answers

  -often lack depth, detail and ''richness'' in data

  -researcher is unable to access any information not revealed by the predetermined questions

  -harder for the researcher to develop new hypotheses.
• AO3- UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS- ADVANTAGES

  -researcher can prompt and probe the subject by asking them to elaborate and explain through follow up questions

  -more detailed information can be obtained from each respondent

  -researcher can access information not revealed by pre-determined questions

  -easier to develop new hypotheses.
• AO3- UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS- DISADVANTAGES

  -more danger of investigator effects

  -requires well trained interviewers= expensive to produce reliable interviews

  -less practical- more time consuming

  -no pre-set questions- topics can be omitted
• AO3- SEMI STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

  -interview schedule makes it less likely questions or topics will be omitted, data is easy to process and compare

  -more scope for the researcher to prompt and probe, therefore more detailed infomation can be obtained- the researcher can access information beyond the pre set questions and the researcher can develop new hypotheses.
• questionnaire

  data is collected through respondents writing their own answers to a list of pre-set questions.
• open questions

  respondents can answer in their own words. produce qualitative data
• closed questions

  closed as the range of possible responses is limited by the researcher. respondent usually ticks a box. closed questions= quantitative data
• most questionnaires typically start with closed questions and then move onto open
• postal

  researcher is not present when a postal questionnaire is completed. respondent completes it and then returns it to the researcher by post or email
• face-to-face

  researcher is present while respondent completes the questionnaire. questionnaire is then given directly to the researcher.
• what is an example of questionnaires?

  friedman and rosenmans study of 3,524 californian men on the study of personality type with coronary heart disease.
• AO3- ADVANTAGES OF CLOSED QUESTIONNAIRES

  practical- quick and cheap to process + analyse - researcher counts how many times a box is ticked.

  this enables the researcher to cover a large sample in a short space of time- increasing the population validity of the data, making it more representative of the whole population
• AO3- DISADVANTAGES OF CLOSED QUESTIONNAIRES

  -closed questionnaires give the respondent a restricted choice of answers and limit the respondents ability to express their opinions.
• AO3- ADVANTAGES OF OPEN QUESTIONS

  -respondent is not limited to selecting an answer provided by the researcher, and is able to express their opinions
• AO3- DISADVANTAGES OF OPEN QUESTIONS

  -less practical- longer to process + analyse. researcher has to work through a larger amount of qualitative data.

  -makes it difficult to cover a large sample, reducing population validity
• AO3- ADVANTAGES OF POSTAL QUESTIONNAIRES

  -respondent is under less pressure, due to the absence of a researcher and is more likely to answer honestly, less likelihood of social desirability bias
• AO3- DISADVANTAGES OF POSTAL QUESTIONNAIRES

  -low response rate:

  -waste of resources- time and money

  -sample bias- people who respond are either people who have time available to them, or people with strong views on the topic- which is unlikely to be representative of the whole population and will lack population validity

  -researcher not present to clarify misunderstandings.
• AO3- ADVANTAGES OF FACE-TO-FACE QUESTIONNAIRES

  -no problems with low response rates; all questionnaires are completed and returned to the researcher

  -researcher is present to clarify misunderstandings.
• AO3- DISADVANTAGES OF FACE-TO-FACE QUESTIONNAIRES

  -respondent is under more pressure to the the presence of an interviewer and is less likely to answer honestly- greater likelihood of social desirability bias.
• AO3- OVERALL ADVANTAGES OF QUESTIONNAIRES

  -questionnaires are a practical method, enabling researchers to gather data from a large sample in a short space of time
• AO3- OVERALL DISADVANTAGES OF QUESTIONNAIRES

  -people may deliberately or unconsciously lie or mislead the researcher- eg- social desirability bias- data will lack internal validity

  -problems with question phrasing