Self-report techniques

What is self-report? (3)

When participants give information about themselves, their thoughts or how they think they would behave, can be in the form of interviews, questionnaires and diary entries

What is important to note about self-report techniques? (3)

Researchers always have to consider that the participants may give inaccurate information, they may lie due to social desirability bias, this limits validity of findings obtained from self-report techniques

What are the different types of interviews that can be used? (3)

structured, semi-structured, unstructured

What is a structured interview? (2)

A structured interview is an interview that follows the same set of pre-determined questions, the interviewer cannot stray from the set questions

What is an unstructured interview? (3)

An unstructured interview is an interview that does not follow pre-determined questions but has a general line of enquiry, it is flexible and conversational so it allows for a deeper exploration of topics, as the interviewer can adjust questions based on the interviewees responses

What is a semi-structured interview? (2)

A semi-structured interview is an interview that combines a set of prepared questions while being able to explore topics that naturally arise in conversation, the interviewer can ask follow up questions in addition to their predetermined questions

How is an interview designed?

An interview is designed to allow rapport to be developed

What are the benefits of developing rapport in an interview? (4)

people may feel happier opening up about sensitive topics to an interviewer rather than in a questionnaire, especially if the interviewer is compassionate, shows good listening skills and shows respect for the interviewee, makes the researcher more likely to obtain more details and valid data about sensitive topics

Why is it important to consider the effect of the interviewer when conducting an interview? (2)

The interviewer should consider body language, standardising body language as well as questions to reduce investigator effects

Why is recording an interview useful? (2)

Recording allows further data to be collected, as the interviewer can watch body language as well as verbal responses

Why is it important to consider the interview schedule when carrying out interviews? (2)

individual interviews are more time consuming than questionnaires, there has to be a clear reason for performing interviews rather than more time-efficient questionnaires

What are considered ethical issues with conducting interviews? (4)

Respondents’ answers should be confidential, consider if sensitive topics may upset the respondent, direct respondents to further support, treat the respondents with kindness, understanding and respect

How are questionnaires used?

Participants receive a predetermined set of questions that they respond to with written answers

When are questionnaires used? (2)

Questionnaires can be used in an experiment to measure the dependent variable, or part of the pre-experiment to help develop a hypothesis

What are closed questions? (6)

Closed questions result in quantitative data, they can include options for participants to choose, yes or no, rating on a scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree, rating on a scale from often to never, given the option to disagree or agree with a statement

Give 3 examples of how closed questions may start (3)

‘Would you…?’, ‘How often…?’, ‘Do you…?’

What are open questions? (4)

Open questions result in qualitative data, there is no fixed answer, the data must be interpreted before any statistical analysis can be done, can be in the form of commands

Give 3 examples of how open questions may start (3)

‘How…?’, ‘What kinds of…?’, ‘Describe…’

Why is clarity important in a questionnaire? (5)

Wording of the questions must be clear, not open to interpretation, does not use technical language, not too many factors, not double negative/positive

Why should a researcher avoid leading questions in a questionnaire? (2)

Leading questions obtain bias, questions should not encourage respondents to give particular answers

How can a researcher avoid putting leading questions in a questionnaire? (2)

avoid emotional language, equally balance positive and negative questions

What two other factors should a researcher avoid when forming their questionnaire? (2)

Researchers must not make assumptions about participants, researchers should avoid asking intrusive questions that are too personal as participants have a right to their privacy

Who helps deduce which questions breach ethical guidelines?

Ethics committee

What is social desirability bias?

Social desirability bias occurs when respondents give answers to a questionnaire that make them look good rather than answers that are honest and true

What is a lie scale? (3)

A technique used in questionnaires to avoid social desirability bias, involves asking the same questions in different directions to see if there is consistency, it identifies people that are lying to remove their data as it would not be valid

How can a researcher use the lie scale in their questionnaire? (2)

A researcher should ask questions that most people would say are not true if they are being honest, for example ‘I have never lied’