Self Reports

Question 0

What is an open question?

Answer 0

They require a worded question such as ‘what is your favourite childhood memory?’
Qualitative data

Question 1

What is a closed question?

Answer 1

There are pre-set options for answers such as ‘what flavour of ice cream do you prefer? •vanilla •chocolate •strawberry.’
Quantitative data

Question 2

What is the definition of a questionnaire?

Answer 2

A list of pre-set questions often written in form. Can be face to face, over email, over the phone etc.

Question 3

What are the advantages of questionnaires?

Answer 3

• large amount of info from large amount of people in a short time
• whoever carries it out will hardly affect the validity or reliability
• results are quickly and easily quantified

Question 4

What are the disadvantages of questionnaires?

Answer 4

• cannot understand causes of behaviour
• noway to tell how truthful a respondent is, lowering reliability and validity
• low respondent rates

Question 5

What is the difference between likert and rating scales?

Answer 5

Likert= a statement followed by a scale

E.g “aliens are real”
agree neutral disagree

Rating= numerical scale

E.g “How often do you go to the gym?”
1 never 2 3 4 5 6 everyday

Question 6

What are the advantages of open questions?

Answer 6

• Enable respondents freedom to answer as they choose.

- Rich and detailed qualitative data

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of open questions?

Answer 7

• make collecting quantitative data and statistical analysis difficult
• can misinterpret answers

Question 8

What are the pros of closed questions?

Answer 8

-Enable collection of quantitative date easy and therefore statistical analysis possible

Question 9

What are the cons of closed questions?

Answer 9

• May limit respondents choices so that full info is not received
• Do not know reasoning behind answers

Question 10

What is the definition of a structured interview?

Answer 10

The interviewer sticks to a strict list of questions and conducts the interview in exactly the same way (standardised).

Question 11

What are the pros of structured interviews?

Answer 11

• Easy to compare and analyse
• Quick to conduct
• Lowers researchers bias as standardised
• High reliability

Question 12

What are the cons of structured interviews?

Answer 12

• Researcher bias
• No way to determine how truthful the answers are= less valid and reliable
• Limited data gathered
• Not a real insight into pp

Question 13

What is the definition of an unstructured interview?

Answer 13

Interviewer has complete freedom to vary the questions, their wording and their order, pursuing whatever line of enquiry seems appropriate.

Question 14

What are the pros of unstructured interviews?

Answer 14

• Rich, detailed, qualitative data
• Not limited by categories
• Be flexible on questions, follow any lines of inquiry

Question 15

What are the cons of unstructured interviews?

Answer 15

• data difficult to record
• a lot of irrelevant info
• Isn’t standardised= less reliable
• harder of interviewer as must be responsible to answers

Question 16

What are the pros and cons of likert/ rating scales?

Answer 16

Pros:
•measure the direction and strength of attitude towards q

Cons:
•subjective to wording of q and interpretation of rating 
•respondent cannot expand on answer 
•social desirability 
•assumes people will be truthful

Question 17

What are some AS/A2 examples of studies that use the self report method?

Answer 17

• Wakefield= questionnaire about smoking home+school bans
• Kanner= HSCL, Bradburn morale scale, Life events+hassles
• Holmes+Rahe= life events scale
• Freud= interviews with ‘Little Hans’
• T+C= interviews with ‘Eve’