Self-report techniques

• What are questionnaires?

  • Most common type of self-report technique.
  • Made up of a pre-set list of written questions to which a participant responds.
  • Can be used to assess the DV.
• What is an open question?

  • Doesn’t have a fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer in any way they wish.
  • Produce more qualitative data that contains a wide range of different responses but may be difficult to analyse.
• What is a closed question?

  • Offers a fixed number of responses.
  • Produces quantitative data which is usually more easy to analyse but may lack the depth of detail.
• Strengths of questionnaires

  • Can be distributed to lots of people by gathering large amounts of data quickly and the researcher not needing to be present, which reduces the effort involved and makes questionnaires cost-effective.
  • Is straightforward to analyse, especially if closed questions are used, therefore data can be easily converted to graphs and charts for comparison.
• Limitations of questionnaires

  • Responses may not always be truthful, as respondents may be keen to present themselves in a positive light, therefore social desirability bias is possible.
  • Often produce response bias, as respondents may favour a particular kind of response, e.g, always agreeing.
• What are the different types of interviews?

  • Structured interview: pre-determined set of questions that are asked in fixed order.
  • Unstructured interview: works like a conversation, no set questions, there is a general topic to be discussed but the interaction tends to be free-flowing and the interviewee is encouraged to elaborate.
  • Semi-structured interview: a list of questions that have been worked out in advance, but follow-up questions may be asked based on previous answers.
• Strength of structured interview

  Easy to replicate due to the standardised format.
• Limitation of structured interview

  Interviewers can’t elaborate which may limit the amount of data collected.
• Strength of unstructured interview

  There is greater flexibility so researchers are more likely to gain useful insight and collect unexpected information.
• Limitation of unstructured interview

  Increased risk of interviewer bias meaning more opportunities for unconscious cues.
• Strength of open questions

  Responses are not restricted so answers are in more detail, therefore likely to have more external validity.
• Limitation of open questions

  Difficult to analyse so may be forced to reduce data to statistics.
• Strength of closed questions

  Easier to analyse as you can produce graphs and charts for comparisons, making it easier to draw conclusions.
• Limitation of closed questions

  Responses are restricted meaning respondents may be forced to put an answer down that doesn’t represent their true feelings, reducing the validity of the findings.