Self-report methods

• Self-report methods


  Where the participant provides details about their own feelings and thoughts to the researcher, through questionnaires or interviews
• Types of self-report methods

  • Questionnaires
  • Interviews
• Closed questions


  Provide quantitative data which can be analysed easily
• Open questions


  Produce qualitative data which is not numerical and usually leads to richer, more detailed information
• Evaluation of questionnaires


  • Strengths: A lot of data can be collected quickly and cheaply, fewer investigator effects, participants more likely to answer honestly
  • Weaknesses: Leading questions, social desirability bias, biased sample, participants may misunderstand
• Evaluation of interviews


  • Strengths: More flexible, less likely to be misunderstandings
  • Weaknesses: More time consuming, higher chance of investigator effects
• Investigator effects


  When the researcher's behaviour or characteristics influence the research in some way
• Minimising investigator effects: provide a standardised script, train interviewers to greet participants in the same way and ask questions with a neutral tone
• Questionnaires


  • Questions might need to be de-selected or re-written if they are too complex or ambiguous
  • Use more closed questions
• Interviews


  • Use the same interviewer each time
  • Train interviewers carefully to ensure questions are asked in the same way
  • Use structured interviews