Self Report Techniques: Questionnaires and interviews

What is a self-report technique?

A self-report technique is where the participant giver information to the researcher providing details of own feelings/thoughts/behaviour. This could involve responding to questions on a questionnaire or during an interview.

What is a questionnaire?

Questionnaires: A technique using a structured set of questions, far asking a large sample of people about their views and behaviours. Questionnaire surveys may be conducted in person, by telephone, by post and via the internet. Questions can be closed (require simple answer) or open-ended(develop answer in own words).

What are the strengths of questionnaires? (2)

• More truthful responses: Participants may be more willing to express themselves truthfully in a questionnaire rather than when face-to-face in an interview because they can remain anonymous. This leads to more valid data.

• Simplicity: Once constructed and piloted, questionnaires can be carried out with a minimum of training, unlike interviews which require a researcher to be trained. This means it is possible to access a large group of participants more easily.

What are the limitations of questionnaires? (2)

• Problems with wording of questions: The way a question is worded may influence the responses given so that answers are not a true reflection of the participant. For example, complex questions can be misunderstood so may be skipped or an invalid response provided, whereas in an interview, the researcher can be asked for clarification.

• Biased samples: The response rate can be very low for questionnaires. Only the people that are not most willing to respond will return the questionnaire, meaning that the sample may not be representative of the population.

What is an interview?

Interview: Any face to face situation where one person (the interviewer) asks a series of questions to another person( the respondent). These questions can be pre-determined (structured) or created in response to answers (unstructured) or a mixture of the two types (semi-structured).

What is a structured interview?

Set of pre-determined questions.

What are the limitations of structured interviews? (2)

• Replication is possible because standardised questions are used. Answers from different participants can be compared and answers are easier to analyse in comparison to unstructured interviews.

• Any misunderstood questions can be explained - this is advantageous compared to questionnaires and improves the validity of the answers given.

What is an unstructured interview?

Questions created in response to answers.

What are the strengths of unstructured interviews? (2)

• Lots of ‘rich’ data due the the use of open-ended questions, all types of interviews can collect rich detailed data of both complex and personal issues.

• Flexibility- unstructured interviews can enable complex issues to be explored in further depth by tailoring questions, which may not be possible with other methods such as structured interviews and questionnaires.

What are the limitations of the unstructured interviews? (2)

• Requires skilled personnel, especially due to the need to develop new questions on the spot, interviewers would need training.

• More difficult to analyse the data due to lack of standardised questions and the larger amount of data gathered.