Research Methods: Self Reports & Questionnaire

Question 1

In a self-report, participants give information to the researcher to provide details on their…?

Answer 1

Thoughts/feelings/behavior

Question 2

What two types of questions can you get in a questionnaire?

Answer 2

Open and closed

Question 3

Self-report involves participants responding to questions using what two methods?

Answer 3

A questionnaire or interview

Question 4

What type of question requires a one-word response?

Answer 4

Closed questions

Question 5

What type of question allows participants to respond in detail?

Answer 5

Open

Question 6

What do questionnaires often form part of?

Answer 6

Surveys

Question 7

Do surveys involve asking a small or large sample of people?

Answer 7

Large sample

Question 8

The purpose of a survey is to get a good representation of…?

Answer 8

The target population

Question 9

Because we are more able to generalize results from surveys to the rest of the population, does this increase internal or external validity?

Answer 9

External validity

Question 10

A strength of questionnaires is that they can tackle sensitive issues. Why?

Answer 10

Because participants’ data can remain anonymous

Question 11

When the data in questionnaires is anonymous, what are participants’ answers more likely to be?

Answer 11

Honest

Question 12

If participants provide honest responses, what type of validity does this affect and how?

Answer 12

Increases internal validity

Question 13

Why is there a reduction of investigator effects in a questionnaire?

Answer 13

The researcher does not have to be present

Question 14

In what type of self-report method is the researcher likely to be present?

Answer 14

Interview

Question 15

If there are investigator effects, what type of validity does this affect and how?

Answer 15

Reduces internal validity because the investigator effect can act as an extraneous variable

Question 16

A strength of questionnaires is that they can be given to what quantity of people?

Answer 16

Large quantity

Question 17

Being able to give questionnaires to a large quantity of people increases what about the findings?

Answer 17

The generalisability

Question 18

A weakness of questionnaires is that they could lead to social desirability bias. What is this?

Answer 18

People may lie to present themselves in the best possible light

Question 19

What type of validity does social desirability bias affect and how?

Answer 19

Lowers internal validity

Question 20

How could you minimize social desirability bias in a questionnaire?

Answer 20

Make the questionnaire anonymous

Question 21

A weakness of questionnaires is misinterpretation of questions. Why is this more of an issue for questionnaires than interviews?

Answer 21

Because the researcher is not present so can’t ask for clarification

Question 22

If participants misinterpret questions, this can lead to…?

Answer 22

Invalid information

Question 23

If participants provide invalid information, what type of validity could this affect and how?

Answer 23

Lowers internal validity

Question 24

Who could misinterpret participants’ answers in a questionnaire?

Answer 24

The researcher

Question 25

What type of question can participants answer in their own words?

Answer 25

Open questions

Question 26

Answers to which type of question tend to include greater detail?

Answer 26

Open questions

Question 27

What type of questions mean participants’ responses are fixed (e.g., ‘yes’ or ‘no’) or rating scales?

Answer 27

Closed questions

Question 28

What type of questions produce qualitative data?

Answer 28

Open questions

Question 29

What type of questions produce quantitative data?

Answer 29

Closed questions

Question 30

What type of data is non-numerical?

Answer 30

Qualitative data

Question 31

What type of data is numerical?

Answer 31

Quantitative data

Question 32

‘On a scale of 1-10 (strongly disagree to strongly agree)...’ Is this an open or closed question?

Answer 32

Closed question

Question 33

Tick the box that applies to you: Yes / No. Is this an open or closed question?

Answer 33

Closed question

Question 34

If a question starts with ‘Describe,’ is it open or closed?

Answer 34

Open question

Question 35

If a question starts with ‘Explain,’ is it open or closed?

Answer 35

Open question

Question 36

Which type of question provides greater understanding of the content/behavior in question?

Answer 36

Open questions

Question 37

Which type of question provides answers which are easier to analyze?

Answer 37

Closed questions

Question 38

Why are closed question answers easier to analyze?

Answer 38

Because they produce quantitative data

Question 39

What type of question is open to researcher bias?

Answer 39

Open questions

Question 40

What type of question lacks depth and insight into behavior?

Answer 40

Closed questions

Question 41

Why are open questions open to researcher bias?

Answer 41

Participants’ responses are open to subjective interpretation by the researcher

Question 42

What is response bias?

Answer 42

Where participants reply in a similar way to questions (e.g., always ticking yes)

Question 43

What type of questions are open to response bias?

Answer 43

Closed questions

Question 44

If answers lack depth and insight into behavior, the answers could lack...?

Answer 44

Validity

Question 45

Which type of questions easily allow comparisons to be made between groups of people?

Answer 45

Closed questions

Question 46

Why does a questionnaire have greater generalisability than interviews?

Answer 46

Because in an interview the researcher has to be present, limiting the amount of people the research can be conducted on

Question 47

What is it called when people lie to present themselves in the best possible light?

Answer 47

Social desirability bias

Question 48

When are participants more likely to be honest on questionnaires?

Answer 48

When the answers are anonymous

Question 49

Questionnaires and interviews are types of what research method?

Answer 49

Self-report

Question 50

Define an interview.

Answer 50

A method of asking questions – face-to-face. Sometimes it can be over the phone or computer such as through Skype

Question 51

What are the two types of interviews?

Answer 51

Structured and Unstructured Interview

Question 52

In a structured interview are the questions pre-set or have no set questions?

Answer 52

Pre-set questions

Question 53

In a structured interview, is the interviewer more or less likely to deviate from the topic?

Answer 53

Less likely to deviate from the topic

Question 54

TRUE OR FALSE: In structured interviews, the interviewer will ask the same question in the exact same order.

Answer 54

True

Question 55

TRUE OR FALSE: In a structured interview, the interviewer can ask any extra questions based on the information provided by the participant.

Answer 55

False

Question 56

AO3: If participants get the same question, what will you be better able to do?

Answer 56

It is possible to compare responses and identify trends and patterns more easily

Question 57

AO3: The researcher cannot deviate from the pre-set question meaning they cannot follow up on new lines of enquiry. What might this mean?

Answer 57

This may mean they do not get a full understanding of behavior

Question 58

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 58

May contain a topic area for discussion but no set questions so each interview gets different questions

Question 59

What are the questions based on in an unstructured interview?

Answer 59

The questions are based on the responses of the interviewee so the interviewer can discuss interesting points made by the interviewee

Question 60

The questions that are asked in an unstructured interview are more likely to be ____ questions.

Answer 60

Open

Question 61

AO3: A strength of an unstructured interview is that the researcher can allow the person to go into more depth with their responses of the interviewer. This means…

Answer 61

They can gain a fuller understanding of the participant's behavior

Question 62

AO3: A limitation of an unstructured interview is that it can be hard to identify patterns because…

Answer 62

All participants are asked different questions making the responses harder to analyze and compare

Question 63

AO3: A limitation of (any) interviews is that they are more time-consuming and expensive as the questions are asked face-to-face and so require a 1:1 with a researcher UNLIKE a questionnaire…

Answer 63

Which are less time-consuming and expensive as the researcher does not need to be present

Question 64

AO3: A limitation of (any) interview is that it is prone to investigator effects as the researcher needs to be present. Their ____ or _____ could influence the participants to respond in a certain way, therefore lowering the internal validity.

Answer 64

E.g., behavior/gender

Question 65

AO3: What is the benefit of an interviewer being present in an interview?

Answer 65

As the researcher is present during an interview, the participant can ask for clarification if they do not understand a question, or the researcher could ask for clarification if they do not understand a response, therefore improving the internal validity of the research.