Self reports

What are self reports?

Any interview or questionnaire that relies on an individual to report their behaviours, beliefs and attitudes

What are some general strengths of self reports?

• Ask p’s directly about their thoughts/beliefs/behaviours which may be more valid

• Potentially fewer ethical concerns

What are some general weaknesses of self reports?

• Participants may lie

• Open to social desirability bias- answering in ways that are socially acceptable

What are questionnaires?

List of standardised questions for p’s to answer alone about attitudes/beliefs of various topics

What are the strengths of questionnaires?

• Lots of data quickly

• Quantitative data

• Anonymous

• Less investigator effects

Weaknesses of questionnaires?

• Easier to lie

• P’s may misinterpret questions

• Bias (only certain types of people may partake in a questionnaire)

What are interviews?

• A series of questions asked by researcher to participant

• Can be unstructured, semi-structured or structured

Strengths of interviews?

• (Unstructured/semi-structured) build rapport so more likely to gain an honest response

• (Structured) reliable as all p’s are asked the same Q’s

• Qualitative data gains insight

Weaknesses of interviews?

• (Unstructured/semi-structured) P’s are asked different questions so less reliable

• Qualitative data is up to interpretation

• (Structured) less personalised so less trust in interviewer

What are open questions?

Questions where the participant is free to answer in any way they see fit- qualitative data

Strengths of open questions?

• More in depth answers

• P’s can say what they think is important

Weaknesses of open questions?

• Qualitative data is harder to compare and analyse

• More time consuming

What are closed questions?

• The participant is limited to a selection of fixed responses, allowing them to be quantified

• Uses quantitative data which can include numbers or yes/no answers

Strengths of closed questions?

• Easy to compare and analyse

• Easily displayed

• Researcher get the information they want

Weaknesses of closed questions?

Not qualitative so lacks depth and detail

What are rating scales?

• Used with closed questions

• Allows participants to rate how strongly they feel about something

What is a semantic differential scale?

A rating scale with 2 opposing terms at either end of a 5 or 7 point scale

What are strengths of rating scales?

• Quantitative data- easy to compare

• Gains information the strength of an opinion- insight

• Reliable

Weaknesses of rating scales

• Lacks detail- don’t understand why p’s behave the way they do or think what they think

• Subjects may interpret the scale differently