Self-report

Question 1

What are the two main methods if self report?

Answer 1

-Questionnaires
-Interviews

Question 2

Questionnaire features

Answer 2

-Written method
-May be completed by participant, or may be completed by a researcher reading to participant and recording answers
-Do not always require the presence of the researcher
-Person completing questionnaire is a ‘respondent’
-They can be paper-based or electronic

Question 3

Questionnaire advantages

Answer 3

-Can reach more people
-Less time consuming
-More standardised
-Data can be easily summarised by technology
-Confidential
-Lower social desirability bias

Question 4

Questionnaire disadvantages

Answer 4

-Can’t always clarify a question meaning
-Harder to debrief
-Can’t always see reactions/reasoning
-May oak ecological validity
-Response rate
-Standard response set

Question 5

Interview features

Answer 5

-Person being interviewed is an ‘interviewee’
-Involved direct verbal questioning of the interviewee by a researcher
-Can vary in structure: un/semi/structured

Question 6

Interview advantages

Answer 6

-Can see body language
-Easier to debrief
-Build a report to increase honesty
-Different structures to suit research
-Combination of data types

Question 7

Interview disadvantages

Answer 7

-More time consuming
-Less standardised
-Can’t reach as many people
-Have to summarise data by yourself
-Can be unreliable
-Confidentiality
-Social desirability bias
-May lack ecological validity

Question 8

What are the two types of questions?

Answer 8

-Open questions
-Closed questions

Question 9

Open questions

Answer 9

A participant responds to a set question, but can answer in any style. They are often used to assess reasoning behind answers, and must be more than a one word answer

Question 10

Open Questions advantages

Answer 10

-Can tell you participant reasoning
-Doesn’t limit participant answers
-Elaborate on an answer
-Increased ecological validity

Question 11

Open questions disadvantages

Answer 11

-Take longer to answer
-Answers vary, so harder to summarise
-Low retention rate
-May get irrelevant data
-Researcher bias

Question 12

Closed questions

Answer 12

The answers are given to participants so that they may choose the most appropriate answer for them. Can easily be turned into qualitative data

Question 13

Closed question advantages

Answer 13

-Quick and easy to answer
-Easy to interpret and display
-Easier to compare and analyse results

Question 14

Closed question disadvantages

Answer 14

-Doesn’t give participant reasoning
-Limits participant answers
-Lacks ecological validity
-Only gives quantitative data
-Lacks detail
-Options may be open to interpretation
-Standard response set

Question 15

Rating scales

Answer 15

Participant marking an appropriate point on a numerical scale to indicate the direction and strength of their attitude towards something

Question 16

Rating scales advantages

Answer 16

-Easily converted to quantitative data
-Easy to analyse and compare
-Gives detail beyond a yes/no answer

Question 17

Rating scale disadvantages

Answer 17

-Different interpretations of terms, from both respondent and researcher
-Only a set number of options
-Standard response set
-Doesn’t show participant reasoning

Question 18

Likert scales

Answer 18

Comprise a number of statements, and participants indicate to what degree they agree/disagree with them

Question 19

Semantic differentials

Answer 19

An attitude object is given (Eg: college) along side two polar opposites (good/bad) and the participant indicates how far they agree with each on a numerical scale.=

Question 20

What are the three types of interview?

Answer 20

Structured, semi-structured, and unstructured

Question 21

Structured interview

Answer 21

The interviewer asks the same questions to each interviewee, with closed questioned often being used

Question 22

Structured interview advantages

Answer 22

-Highly standardised
-Know exactly what is happening
-Easier to compare answers
-High internal reliability

Question 23

Structured interview disadvantages

Answer 23

-Low ecological validity/superficial
-Worse report
-Less comfortable atmosphere
-Restrictive, so may miss useful information

Question 24

Semi-structured interview

Answer 24

There will be a pre-prepared set of questions, with other questions being developed in the interview based on interviewee responses

Question 25

Semi-structured interview advantages

Answer 25

-Ecological validity
-More comfortable/trustworthy
-Qualitative data collected, still with quantitative to compare

Question 26

Semi-structured interview disadvantages

Answer 26

-Reliability not as high due to varying experience
-Harder to compare across participants

Question 27

Unstructured interview

Answer 27

The interviewer has topics to discuss, but no set questions and is more like a conversation

Question 28

Unstructured interview advantages

Answer 28

-Higher ecological validity
-Good rapport
-More comfortable for interviewee
-Lots of detail
-Qualitative data collected that may otherwise be missed

Question 29

Unstructured interview disadvantages

Answer 29

-Not standardised
-Don’t know what will happen
-Harder to compare answers
-Lower reliability
-Broad range so harder to summarise and analyse

Question 30

What are the three levels of data?

Answer 30

Interval/ratio, Ordinal, Nominal

Question 31

Interval or ratio

Answer 31

The highest level of data, analysis is made of the scores achieved by individual participants.
Units.

Question 32

Ordinal

Answer 32

The medium level of data. Analysis is made by individual scores of participants in relation to each other, what is analysed is their rank position in a group.
Scales/scores