Questionnires and Interviews

• Self-report techniques are methods of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interfernce from the experimenter
• Questionnaires are a non-experiment, self-report method where p's gather their thoughtd, feelings and opinions in a set of predetermined questions
• Open questions give the participant the freedom to say what they want, without being restricted to a fixed answer
• Closed questions provide a fixed set of reponses to choose from ,for example, yes/no
• Examples of closed questions:


  likert scales= the respondent indicates their agreement with a statment using a scale

  semanti differential scales= the repsondent identifies a value which represnts thier strenght of feeling

  fixed choice option= includes a list of opinions that repsondents choose
• Quantative data is quantity, numbers, concerned with avergaes and percentages
• Qualititaive data is descriptions , concerned with attitudes beliefs and emotions
• strengths of quantative data

  • quick and easy to analyse
  • easier to establish trends
• strenghts of qualitative data

  • rich in depth and detail
  • provide new ideas
• weaknesses of quantative data

  • lacks depth and detail
  • limited range of responses
• weaknesses of qualitative data

  • difficult to analyse
  • difficult to find patterns
• An interview is where the researcher asks questions in real time. This can be by telephone or face to face
• A structured interview is where the interviewer will have a pre-deterined set of questions that the interviewer will stick to
• A semi-structured interiew will have some questions that are pre-determined and some will be developed on the spot
• An unstructured interview is where the interviewer only has the 1st question planned, everhting else is not planned
• Strenghts of structured interviews

  • requires less interviewing skill, so can be done by non-professionals
  • easier to analyse as the answers are pre-determined
  • can be easily replicated
• A case study is a detailed investigation of a single person, group, or event.
• Strenghts of case studies

  • gaining an insight and deeper understanding
  • some things can only be investiagted through a case study
• weaknesses of case studies

  • ethics-no consent
  • replicability-hard to do the experiment on the same person}
  • subjectivity in interpretation
  • generelisablity