Self-report techniques

Questionnaires

- Involve a pre-set list of questions to which a participants responds. Used to assess thoughts and/or feelings. A study may simply consist of a question to find out about the kind of dreams people have. May also be used to assess the DV

Questionnaires: Open questions

- Does not have a fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer in any way they wish. Tend to produce qualitative data that contains a wide range of different responses but may be difficult to analyse

Questionnaires: Closed questions

- Offer a fixed number of responses. Could be two options of 'Yes' or 'No', (qualitative data) or rating on a scale from 1 to 10 (quantitative data). Quantitative data like this is usually easy to analyse but may lack depth and detail associated with open questions

- Qualitative data can be turned into quantitative data by, e.g. counting the number of yes and no responses

Interviews

- A ‘live’ encounter where one person asks a set of questions to assess the interviewee’s thoughts and/or experiences. The questions may be pre-set or may develop as the interview goes along.

Interviews: Structured interviews

- Made up of pre-determined set of questions that are asked in a fixed order. Like a questionnaire but conducted face-to-face (or over the phone/internet) in real time, i.e. the interviewer asks the questions and waits for a response

Interviews: Unstructured interviews

- Works a lot like a conversation. 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

Interviews: Semi-structured interviews

- The sort of interview that one is most likely to encounter in everyday life- a job interview- is a good example. There is a list of questions that have been worked out in advance but interviewers are also free to ask follow-up questions based on previous answers

Evaluation of questionnaires: Strengths

- Cost-effective. They can gather large amounts of data quickly because they can be distributed to large numbers of people (number of people determines the volume of data collected).

- Can be completed without the researcher being present, as in the case of a postal questionnaire, which reduces the effort involved

- The data produced is usually straightforward to analyse and this is particularly the case if the questionnaire comprises mainly-fixed choice closed questions. The data lends itself to statistical analysis, and comparisons between groups of people can be made using graphs and charts

Evaluation of questionnaires: Weaknesses

- Responses may not always be truthful. Respondents may want to present themselves in a positive light and this may influence their answers. E.g. most people may underestimate the frequency of certain things like phone use. This is a form of demand characteristic called social desirability bias

- Often produce a response bias, which is where respondents tend to reply in a similar way, i.e. always ticking 'yes' or answering at the same favoured end of a rating scale, which may be because respondents complete the questionnaire too quickly and fail to read questions properly

Evaluation of questionnaires: Strengths

- Straightforward to replicate due to their standardised format. The format also reduces differences between interviewers

Evaluation of structured interviews: Weaknesses

- It is not possible, given the nature of this type of interview, for interviewers to deviate from the topic or explain their questions and this will limit the richness of the data collected as well as limit unexpected information

Evaluation of unstructured interviews: Strengths

- Much more flexibility than in a structured interview. The interviewer can follow up points as they arise and is much more likely to gain insight into the worldview of the interviewee, including eliciting unexpected information

Evaluation of unstructured interviews: Weaknesses

- Increased risk of interviewer bias. Also analysis of data is not straightforward. The researcher may have to sift through much irrelevant information and drawing firm conclusions may be difficult

- As with questionnaires, there is a risk that interviewees may lie for reasons of social desirability. However, a skilled interviewer should be able to establish rapport with the participant so that even when sensitive and personal topics are discussed, any responses given are more truthful