self report techniques: questionnaires

• -          self report techniques enable those participating in a study to provide information knowingly about specific things related to themselves like what they believe or do as opposed to the researcher observing these directly
• -          when using a self report technique the information from the participants is gathered through questionnaires which are used to gather opinions attitudes about specific areas or interests and behaviour
• -          questionnaires can be distributed by post telephone or the Internet or left for participants to collect from some central point and complete in their own time
• -          it's important to get a large and representative sample when using questionnaires to ensure that you can make generalisations from the finding
• -          the researcher does not need to be present when the questionnaire is administered although the researchers presence may be helpful to answer any queries that respondents have about the questionnaire
• construction of a questionnaire including the use of open and closed questions
• -          question is can be both quantitative and qualitative data depending on how the questions are asked
• -          close questions produce quantitative - closed questions are usually used when a researcher can determine the range of possible answers respondents often reply so they will take a box or circle appropriate answers already provided by the questionnaire picked out by the researcher
• -          close questions are best used when straightforward and factual information is required

  -          examples of closed questions in a questionnaire could be how often do you exercise and the possible answers would be to tick the daily box the two times a week box or more than three times a week box
• -          open questions- open-ended questions produce qualitative data which can produce answers that are usually difficult to analyse because they have more detail
• -          open questions are not restricted by the researcher- the range of possible answers is not restricted

  -          an example of a open question would be- what are your views on children being put in day care full time to which the participant could respond with an elaborate explanation of their beliefs
• -          in a questionnaire leading questions should be avoided

  -          leading questions or questions where the choice of wording used suggest that the respondents should reply in a particular way for example what is it about day care do you find most beneficial.
• -          When designing A questionnaire you need to consider whether you want to use open or closed questions or both an should there be a balance between the types of questions you use you should also consider the number of questions and the order of them you should also use clear language for questions and instructions
• -          when creating a questionnaire you want to avoid leading questions or bias questions, avoid using emotive language when asking questions, make sure to ask clear and unambiguous questions, avoid making inappropriate or insensitive assumptions and ensure that you have adhered to ethical guidelines
• -          it's also worth carrying out a pilot study using your questionnaire to test its efficiency prior to using it in the experiment
• -          1) an advantage of questionnaires is their simplicity-once developed and piloted questionnaires can be administered by a person with minimum training  closed questions used when quantitative data is collected which is usually easy to analyse so it's often easy to compare answers from different individuals or groups of respondents there is also no need for the researcher to be present when questionnaires are completed which saves time
• -          1) overall beneficial as questionnaires as they allow you to gather a large sample of participants -making a more representative study of a target population increasing population validity
• -        2)  an advantage of questionnaire is that they're less influential off interpersonal variables this is because researchers do not usually sit with the respondents when they complete them so there is less opportunity for the researcher to influence the information provided-when left alone participants are more likely to answer genuinely-
• -         2)therefore the ability for questionnaires to be taken privately reduces the likelihood of participants giving socially desirable answers or showing demand characteristics which gives a more accurate and valid representation of behaviour increasing the internal validity of your results
• -        3)  a disadvantage of questionnaires is that there are potential problems with question wording - is the wording of questions is ambiguous then respondents may interpret the question in different ways which may be reflected in their answers- leading questions my also influence the response given , in some answers it may be clear that the wording of the question has influenced their response for example- what do you find beneficial about school- responding with only beneficial aspects of school-
• 3) although care is taken to reduce problems with questionnaires as the researcher isn't always present when they are completed we cannot be sure that the questions always fully understood this becomes a problem as meaningful analysis of the respondents would therefore be difficult and we may not have internally valid results
• -        4)  a disadvantage of questionnaires is the response rate if sent out in the post or online the proportion of people who were sent questionnaires and choose to respond to them is quite low - people may forget to return them or do not return it- as well as the fact those people who return questionnaires may have characteristics that are different to those who do not for example they could be more motivated people
• 4)therefore these personality traits would act as confounding variables-overall meaning that the sample is not representative of the wider population for which it was drawn and the results cannot be generalised beyond those who actually participated in the research