Lecture 4 Flashcards
(15 cards)
Self-report Measures: Advantages
Who knows better than the individual in question?
Particularly useful for…
Easier and more efficient and maybe more accurate than…
internal beliefs, attitudes, and emotions that are not evident to other people (e.g., depression, anxiety, mindfulness, intentions)
obtaining observations of the person, other people’s reports, or neuro-physiological indices
Self-report Measures: Problems?
Awareness/memory
Response set/bias
Format of the question
Questions tailored for samples
Response Scales
Yes/no (bianary)
Fill-in-the-blank
Multiple choice
Likert
Yes/No (Bianary):
“Are you happy? Yes or no?”
What kind of data does this produce?
What are the pros and cons?
Categorical Data (able to convert it into interval data by labelling it ‘1’ or ’2’)
It’s simple and easy (especially for children)
It’s restricting and limits participants responses
Lacks richness of data
Fill-in-the-blank:
“When a 5-year-old child lies, the parent should _____“.
What kind of data does this produce?
What are the pros and cons?
Categorical Data (in a variable form)
Participants responses are not constrained
Get broad range of responses
Wording of question is important to get useful data
This data is good for qualitative studies
Multiple Choice: When I’m sad, I: a. cry a lot b. stay in bed c. put on a happy face d. start being awesome instead
What kind of data does this produce?
What are the pros and cons?
Categorical Data (can be converted into interval data)
Gives participants more options but could miss out information (doesn’t give them all of the options)
Must be mindful of what answers the researcher offers
Likert
What kind of data does this produce?
What are the cons?
Interval Data
Likert Response Scales
- Need a…
- Even numbered scale…
- more options given to a participant…
- 5 to 7 scale is ideal
normal distribution
forced response
harder it becomes for them to decide
Item Wording: what to avoid
Complexity Technical terms Ambiguity Double-barreled questions Double-negatives
Emotive language (loaded questions)
Leading questions
Invasion of privacy
Sensitive topics with young people
“Creative” Formats:
Visual analogue scales (like a temperature gauge)
Used for special populations and pain
Visual analog scale (0 to 100)
Smiley/Frowny Faces
Commonly used to…
Also used to…
assess liking/disliking
assess pain
easy for participants to respond to this because it’s relevant to people > know what a smiley/frowny face is
Graded Box:
Disklike =
Neutral =
Like =
small sized box
middle sized box
large sized box
Use of DK (don’t know):
Must weigh up need for data because it is good to give option
Sometimes “don’t know” response is just as useful
Digital Administration:
- Point-and-click is…
- Can compile the data (in Excel or SPSS formats)…
- Can create a survey (a set of self-report questionnaires)…
- Almost everyone has a screen to read the questions (although smartphones have small screens)
- Can enact ‘skip and branches’…
easier and faster than using pen or pencil on paper
very quickly and without error
more easily, and can edit it more easily
more easily than in paper surveys (e.g., demographics)
Digital Administration: Problems Can’t... Can’t quickly determine... Fonts can be... Tied... Computers can...
skim forward and backward quickly and easily how far through the survey you are small and hard to read to a screen die and data can be lost
