self report techniques

• questionares involve a pre set list of written questions to which the participant responds. psychologists use questionnaires to assess thoughts and feelings. a questionnaire may be used as part of an experiment to assess the dependant variable.
• there are different styles of questions in questionnaires but these can be broadly divided into open questions and closed questions. an open question does not have a fixed range of answers and respondants are free to answer in any way they wish. open questions tend to produce qualitative data that is rich in depth and detail but may be difficult to analyse. a closed questions offers a fixed number of responses. it can produce both qualitative and quantitative data. quantitative data is easier to anaylse but doesnt provide depth and detail
• other things to consider when designing questionnaires is: 1. ambiguity - avoiding questions and answer options which are not clearly defined 2. leading questions - questions that lead the participant to a particular response 3. double barrelled questions - its best not to use these as the participant may wish to answer differently to each part of the questions 4. complexity - clean english should be used whilst avoiding jargon
• one strength of questionnaires is that they are cost effective. for example, they can gather large amounts of data quickly because they can be distributed to larg numbers of people. also, a questionnaire can be completed without the researcher being present due to postal questionnaires which reduces the effort involved
• a limitation of questionnaires is that the responses given may not be truthful. respondents may be keen to present themselves in a postive light and this may influence their answers. for example, if asked 'how often do you lose your phone', mosy people would underestimate that frequency. this is a form of demand characterisitcs called social desirability bias
• another limitation of questionnaires is that the data produced has a response bias, which is where respondents tend to reply in a similar way. for example, always ticking 'yes' or answering at the same favoured end of a rating scale. this is because respondents complete the questionnaires too quickly and fail to read questions properly. a particular form of response bias, acquiescence bias, is affected here as the participants are more likey to agree with something regardless of how they actually feel
• an interview is a face to face interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee. there are two broad types of interview - structured and unstructured interview
• structured interviews are made up of pre determined set of questions that are asked in a fixed order.
• an unstructured interview is where there are no set questions. there is a general aim that a certain topic will be discussed and interaction tends to be free flowing. the interviewee is encouraged to expand and elaborate their answers as prompted by the interviewer
• many interviews are likely to fall somewhere between the two types. the sort of interview that one is most likely to encounter is everyday life. this is known as an semi structured interview. this is when there is a list of questions that have been worked out in advance but interviewers are also free to ask follow up questions when they feel it is appropriate
• a strength of structured interviews is that they are straightfoward to replicate due to their standardised format. the format also reduces differences between interviewers. however, a limitation of structured interviews is that given the nature it is not possible for interviewers to deviate from the topic or elaborate their points which means the results may lack depth and detail
• a strength of unstructured interviews is that they are more flexible than structured interviews. this is because the interviewer can follow up on points as they arise and is more likey to gain insight into the world view of the interviewee. however, a limitation of unstructured interviews is that analysis of the data is not straightfoward. the researcher may have to sift throught irrelevant information and drawing firm conclusion. another limitation is that there is a risk that interviewees may lie due to social desirability.
• a self report technique is any method in which a person is asked to state or explain their own feelings, opinions, behaviours or experiences to a given topic