Self-Report techniques

What are self-report techniques?

asking people questions directly to understand them better

The two self-report techniques?

questionnaires and interviews

What is a questionnaire?

a pre-written set of questions that participants are requested to answer

What do psychologists use questionnaires to gain insights into?

the thoughts, feeling and opinions of participants

What is a questionnaire quite often used to asses?

a dependent variable

Questionnaires: What are open questions?

participants given the freedom to answer questions in whichever way they wish

Questionnaires: strength of open questions?

give lots of qualitative date = rich, detailed insights

Questionnaires: example of an open question?

“What is your opinion on Boris Johnson”

Questionnaires: Weakness of open questions?

difficult to analyse

Questionnaires: What are closed questions?

a question where participants restricted to a fixed set of potential answers

Questionnaires: Example of a closed question?

“How well do you thin Boris Johnson performed as PM?” - terribly, badly or poorly?

Questionnaires: strength of closed questions?

easy to analyse (quantitative data)

Questionnaires: weakness of closed questions?

lacks depth - participants cannot elaborate to give more detail

What are interviews?

a self-report technique where participants are face to face with a researcher asking the questions

Interviews: What are you trying to gain an understanding of?

participants thoughts, feelings and values

Interviews: what do you gain an understanding of the participants thoughts, feelings and values through?

what they say and how they say it

What are structured interviews?

interviewer uses a set of pre-determined questions

Structured interviews: what is the format like?

very standardised (the same for each participant)

Structured interviews: what order are the questions asked in?

questions asked in the same order for each interviewee

Unstructured interviews: what are they?

interviewer has an idea of what to ask but conversation is free flowing

Unstructured interviews: what will vary between participants?

questions

Unstructured interviews: what does much of the interview/questions feed off of?

the individual responses of the interviewee

Semi-structured interviews: what are they?

pre-determined set of questions is used but interviewer has freedom to ask follow up questions and get elaboration from interviewees

Strengths of structured interviews (2)?

easy to replicate - as it is essentially standardised - and reduced investigator effects (as long as they stick to the script)

Weaknesses of structured interviews (2)?

answers may lack detail and not allow for deeper understanding and feels very formal so participants more likely to present themselves in best light

What is it called when participants tweak/change their answers in order to present themselves in the best light?

social desirability bias

Strengths of unstructured interviews (2)?

richer detail - can get elaboration and gain deeper understanding - and can establish rapport

What does establishing rapport reduce?

the effects of the social desirability bias

Weaknesses of unstructured interviews (2)?

every interview will be different - lack of standardisation - and investigator effects more likely as interviewer has more freedom

What might the lack of standardisation causing each of unstructured interview to be different cause to creep in?

Extraneous variables

(.)

just noticeable pause

(.3)

pause time in tenths of seconds

.hh

speaker’s in breath

hh

speaker’s out breath

:

stretching of preceding sound or letter

a

speaker emphasis

.

full stop or stopping fall in tone

((sniff))

indicates a non-verbal activity

Wor-

shows a sharp cut-off