self-report techniques

• self report techniques means that people report their thoughts and feelings but the method may be subject to social desirability bias, people may make up answers so they may lack validity and they may lack representativeness
• questionnaires are where data is collected through written questions
• questionnaires can collect lots of data cheaply and quickly and people may be more willing to provide personal information but the sample may be biased
• structured interviews are where the questions are decided in advance
• structured interviews may be easily repeated due to standardisation and they are easy to analyse but they may lack comparability as interviewers could behave differently and there may be interviewer bias
• unstructured interviews are where aims are decided but not questions
• unstructured interviews produce qualitative data but can be expensive as interviewers must be well-trained and may lack objectivity
• open questions are where respondents produce their own answers
• open questions are rich in information and provide unexpected answers but many people avoid lengthy answers and they may be difficult to analyse
• closed questions are where respondents choose from a list of answers
• closed questions produce quantitative data which is easy to analyse but the data may lack validity and it may not be informative