Questionnaires - AO3

Strength of closed ended questions

A strength of closed questions has high reliability as the procedure is standardised, the same questions asked in the same way, therefore the study can be easily replicated to test for consistency. In addition, the limitation of responses prevents risk of interviewer interpretation bias.

Weakness of closed ended questions

Closed- ended questions have low internal validity as the fixed questions limit the participant's answers on their viewpoint, one might give an incomplete or simplified answer. This causes the results of the study to not truly measure what it intended to investigate.

Strength of open ended questions

Open ended questions have high ecological validity as they are conducted in a field experiment procedure, this reflects real- life situations. Similarly they have high task validity as open- ended questions invite discussion of the answer, which has high mundane realism. Lastly, it has high internal validity as it provides the experimenter with rich, qualitative data, allowing the results to truly measure what the study intended to investigate.

Weakness of open ended questions

On the other hand, open- ended questions are more prone to interviewer bias, due to the interviewers interpretation and perspectives whilst trying to analyse and understand patterns to draw a conclusion, therefore results could be less reliable.