self-reports

Question 1

what is a self report?

Answer 1

a method which involves asking participants about their feelings, attitudes, beliefs towards something

Question 2

what is a questionnaire?

Answer 2

a research instrument consisting of questions for the purpose of gathering info from respondents

Question 3

what is an interview?

Answer 3

a technique used to collect data on people’s thoughts etc. Involves social interaction, unlike questionnaires

Question 4

what are the strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 4

• quick
• relatively cheap
• able to reach a large sample
• anonymity may encourage honest answers

Question 5

what are the weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 5

• not everyone who receives the questionnaire will respond
• possible bias
• questions open to interpretation

Question 6

what are the strengths of interviews?

Answer 6

• able to assess more than the responses, eg their tone
• can be altered based on participants response

Question 7

what are the weaknesses of interviews?

Answer 7

• pts may alter their responses due to feeling judged by the researcher
• time consuming

Question 8

what are the types of interview?

Answer 8

structured, semi-structured, unstructured

Question 9

what are the types of questions?

Answer 9

open, closed, likert scale, semantic differential rating scale, rating scale

Question 10

what is a structured interview?

Answer 10

when the researcher has pre-planned/ pre-determined questions and does not deviate from these during the interview

Question 11

what are the strengths of a structured interview?

Answer 11

• all questions will provide relevant data
• easy to compare answers between participants
• easy to replicate

Question 12

what are the weaknesses of structured interviews?

Answer 12

• formal, so participants may be uncomfortable
• lacks depth as participants may not be able to explain answers

Question 13

what is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 13

an interview with some predetermined questions, but new questions are created in response to participants answers

Question 14

what are the strengths of semi-structured interviews?

Answer 14

• flexible, researcher can build relationship with interviewee
• pts can expand their answers

Question 15

what are the weaknesses of semi-structured interviews?

Answer 15

time consuming
hard to replicate
hard to compare some answers

Question 16

what is an unstructured interview?

Answer 16

an interview with no predetermined questions

Question 17

what are the strengths of of unstructured interviews?

Answer 17

flexible, researcher can build relationship with interviewee

Question 18

what are the weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

Answer 18

time consuming, hard to replicate, hard to compare answers, data may not be relevant

Question 19

what are the strengths of open questions?

Answer 19

• provide detail rich data
• pts can choose how to respond
• pts can justify and explain their answers

Question 20

what are the weaknesses of open questions?

Answer 20

• hard to analyse + compare
• time consuming to code/quantify
• answers may be irrelevant

Question 21

what are the strengths of closed questions?

Answer 21

• easy to analyse as its quantitative data
• all answers will be relevant

Question 22

what are the weaknesses of closed questions?

Answer 22

• reductionist, lacks depth and detail
• may not reflect pts true thoughts and feelings, so they choose next best options

Question 23

what are the strengths of rating scales?

Answer 23

• tells you the strength of the opinion in numerical form
• easy to analyse

Question 24

what are the weaknesses of rating scales?

Answer 24

• open to response bias
• lacks depth and detail

Question 25

what is a semantic differential rating scale?

Answer 25

measures a person’s attitude towards something by putting something on a scale between two descriptive words

Question 26

what are the strengths of semantic differential rating scales?

Answer 26

• easy to analyse
• descriptive words give the scale more meaning

Question 27

what are the weaknesses of semantic differential rating scales?

Answer 27

• open to response bias
• lacks depth + detail
• open to interpretation

Question 28

what is a likert scale?

Answer 28

a type of rating scale which allows people to indicate how much they agree or disagree with a statement

Question 29

what are the strengths of likert scales?

Answer 29

• tells you the strength of the opinion
• easy to analyse

Question 30

what are the weaknesses of likert scales?

Answer 30

• open to response bias
• lacks depth + detail
• you have to process the data to add values before analysis