RM: Self-report techniques and design

Question 1

What are self-report techniques?

Answer 1

Non-experimental methods, which ask people about their experiences and/or beliefs.

The person is reporting on their own thoughts or feelings.

Question 2

Give two examples of self-report techniques.

Answer 2

Interviews.

Questionnaires.

Question 3

What is an interview?

Answer 3

A research method or technique that involves a face-to-face, ‘real-time’ interaction with another individual and results in the collection of data.

Question 4

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 4

Data collected through the use of written questions.

Question 5

What are questionnaires designed to do?

Answer 5

To collect information about a topic or topics.

Question 6

How do questionnaires contrast to observations?

Answer 6

Questions permit a researcher to discover what people think and feel.

Contrasts to observations which rely on ‘guessing’ what people think and feel on a basis of how they behave.

Question 7

How do questionnaires differ from interviews?

Answer 7

• Questionnaires can be given in written format, whereas an interview is delivered in real time (face-to-face or over the phone).
• Questionnaires are always pre-determined, whereas an interview can be structured or unstructured.

Question 8

What are the two types of interview?

Answer 8

Structured or unstructured.

Question 9

What is a structured interview?

Answer 9

Any interview in which the questions are decided in advance.

Question 10

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 10

An interview which starts out with some general aims and possibly some pre-determined questions, but following questions develop based on the answers that are given.

Question 11

What is an unstructured interview also known as?

Answer 11

A clinical interview.

The type of interview you might have with your doctor; starts with some pre-determined questions but further questions are developed as a response to your answers.

Question 12

What is a clinical interview?

Answer 12

A type of unstructured interview you might have with your doctor.

Question 13

What are general strengths of self-report techniques?

Answer 13

• All self-report techniques allow researchers access to what people think and feel, to their experiences and their attitudes.

Question 14

What are general limitations of self-report techniques?

Answer 14

• People may not supply truthful answers; might not deliberately lie, but may answer in a socially desirable way (social desirability bias).
• Sometimes people may not know how they think or feel, so they may make their answer up- answer lacks validity.
• The sample may lack representativeness and thus the data cannot be generalised- lacks population validity.

Question 15

Despite the limitations of self-report techniques, why are they important?

Answer 15

They are an important way of gathering information about people’s thoughts, attitudes and experiences.

Question 16

What is social desirability bias?

Answer 16

A distortion in the way people answer questions.

They tend to answer questions in such a way that presents themselves in a better light.

Question 17

What are strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 17

• Once designed and tested, can be distributed to large numbers of people relatively cheaply and quickly- allows the researcher to collect from a large sample of people.
• Respondents may be more willing to give personal information in a questionnaire than in an interview, where they may feel more self-concious and cautious.
• Easily repeatable as questions are standardised.
• Easily comparable as questions are the same for everyone, and are not being asked in different ways (no interviewer influence).

Question 18

What are the limitations of questionnaires?

Answer 18

• Only filled in by people who can read and write and have time to fill in the questionnaires- therefore the sample is biased.

Question 19

Although questionnaires are a powerful way of gathering a large amount of information, _________________.

Answer 19

… issues of design, distribution and bias need to be thought through carefully.

Question 20

What are questionnaires and interviews often used for in a study?

Answer 20

As means of measuring the dependent variable.

Question 21

What are strengths of structured interviews?

Answer 21

• Can easily be repeated as questions are standardised; therefore answers from different people can be compared.
• Therefore, they are more easily analysed than unstructured interviews as answers are more predictable.

Question 22

What are limitations of structured interviews?

Answer 22

• Comparability may be a problem if the same interviewer acts differently on different occasions or different interviewers behave differently (low reliability).
• Interviewer’s expectations may influence the answers the interviewee gives (interviewer bias)

Question 23

What do many benefits of structured interviews depend on?

Answer 23

Having skilled interviewers (who can behave in the same way and manner across all interviews) and avoiding interviewer bias as far as possible.

Question 24

What is interviewer bias?

Answer 24

The effect of an interviewer’s expectations, communicated unconciously, on a respondent’s behaviour.

Question 25

What are the **strengths** of **unstructured interviews?**

Answer 25

* More detailed information can be obtained, compared to a structured interview; *this is because the interviewer tailors further questions to the specific responses of each individual.*

Question 26

What are **limitations** of **unstructured interviews?**

Answer 26

* Require interviewers with more skill than a structured interview because the interviewer has to develop new questions on the spot; *therefore, they are more expensive.* * In-depth questions are more likely to lack objectivity than pre-determined ones *because of their instantaneous nature, with no time for the interviewer to reflect on what to say.*

Question 27

Whilst **unstructured interviews** allow researchers to obtain deeper insight into a respondent's feelings and thoughts, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.

Answer 27

... there are issues of objectivity and cost to consider.

Question 28

What are **closed questions?**

Answer 28

Questions which have a predetermined range of answers from which respondents select one.

Question 29

What are **open questions?**

Answer 29

Questions that invite responsents to provide their own answers rather than select one of those provided.

Question 30

What do **closed questions** tend to produce?

Answer 30

Quantitative data. **But**, for example, Yes/No questions are qualitative; these can then be counted to produce quantitative data.

Question 31

What do **open questions** tend to produce?

Answer 31

Qualitative data.

Question 32

What is **qualitative data?**

Answer 32

Non-numerical data.

Question 33

What is **quantitative data?**

Answer 33

Data in numbers.

Question 34

What are the **three guiding principles** when writing **good questions?**

Answer 34

1. Clarity 2. Bias 3. Analysis

Question 35

Why do **questions** need good **clarity?**

Answer 35

Questions need to be written so that the respondent understands what is being asked. There should be no ambiguity.

Question 36

What is **ambiguity**?

Answer 36

When the question being asked has at least two possible meanings.

Question 37

What types of **questions** would **reduce clarity?**

Answer 37

* Double negative questions: * ​**Are you**against banning** capital puinishment?* * Double-barrelled questions: * Do you suffer from **sickness and headaches?***

Question 38

Why do you not want **questions** to be **bias?**

Answer 38

Any bias in a question might lead the respondent to ne more likely to give a particular answer. ## Footnote *The greatest example of this is probably social desirability bias.*

Question 39

Why does **analysis** need to be taken into account when writing **questions?**

Answer 39

Questions need to be written so that the answers are easy to analyse and interpet.

Question 40

Apart from **good questions,** what should a **be considered** when writing a **good questionnaire?**

Answer 40

* Filler questions * Good sequence of questions * Good sampling technique * Pilot study

Question 41

Why do **good questionnaires** need to contain **filler questions?**

Answer 41

To distract the respondent from the main purpose of the survey. ## Footnote *This may reduce demand characteristics.*

Question 42

What are **filler questions?**

Answer 42

Irrelevant questions in a questionnaire.

Question 43

Why do **good questionnaires** need to have a **sequence for the questions?**

Answer 43

So that questions that might make someone feel anxious or defensive are saved until the respondent has relaxed into the questionnaire. ## Footnote *Therefore, you are more likely to get more thought out responses.*

Question 44

Why do **good questionnaires** need to consider **sampling technique?**

Answer 44

To help reduce bias. ## Footnote *Often questionnaires use stratified sampling.*

Question 45

Why do **good questionnaires** often have a pilot study?

Answer 45

To refine questions in response to any difficulties encountered, so that the actual study runs more smoothly.

Question 46

What is a **pilot study?**

Answer 46

When questions are tested on a small group of people, before the actual study commences.

Question 47

Why might an **interviewer** choose **not to take notes** during an **interview**?

Answer 47

* It is likely to interfere with their listening skills. * Respondent may feel a sense of evaluation because the interviewer may not write everything down and then the respondent feels that what they said was not valuable.

Question 48

If an interviewer chooses not to write down the respondent's answers, how **else** might they **record** their findings?

Answer 48

Interviews may be audio recorded or video recorded.

Question 49

How might an **interviewer** record the **results** of their interview?

Answer 49

By taking notes. By recording the interview (audio or video).

Question 50

In an interview, what might **increase the amount of information provided** by the respondent? What does this mean for the interviewer?

Answer 50

The level of interest the interviewer shows in their responses. ## Footnote *Therefore, the interviewer needs to be aware of behaviours that demonstrate their 'interest'.*

Question 51

What **behaviours** should **interviewers** be aware of?

Answer 51

* Non-verbal communication * Listening skills

Question 52

What do we mean when we say **interviewers** must be **aware** of their **non-verbal communications?**

Answer 52

Various behaviours such as sitting with arms crossed and frowning communicate disapproval and disinterest, discouraging the respondent from answering. **Whereas** head nodding and leaning forward may encourage the respondent to speak.

Question 53

What do we mean when we say an **interviewer** must be **aware** of their **listening skills?**

Answer 53

An interviewer needs to know when and how to speak. ## Footnote *For example, they should not interrupt too often and when they do speak they should have a range of encouraging comments, such as 'How interesting', to show they are listening.*

Question 54

In an **unstructured interview,** what special skills must the interviewer have?

Answer 54

Must know what kind of follow up questions should be asked.

Question 55

In an **unstructured interview,** what must the interviewer avoid?

Answer 55

* Asking questions already asked * Probing too much; *for example asking 'what was it really like?, as this makes it seem like you don't like the participant's response, discouraging them from answering truthfully and how they wish* * Asking unfocused questions, like 'why?', *as this makes analysis harder after the interviews.*

Question 56

What are **strengths** of **open questions?**

Answer 56

* Respondents can expand on their answers, which increases the amount and detail of information collected. * Open questions can provide unexpected answers, thus allowing researchers to gain new insights into people's feelings and attitudes

Question 57

What are **limitations** of **open questions?**

Answer 57

* Respondents may avoid giving lengthy complex answers; *therfore, in practice, open questions may not actually provide detailed extra information* * Open questions provide qualitative data, which are more difficult to summarise because there is likely to be a wide range of responses. *This makes it harder to detct clear patterns and draw conclusions.*

Question 58

What are the **benefits of open questions** often offset by?

Answer 58

Difficulties in detecting clear patterns.

Question 59

What are the **strengths** of **closed questions?**

Answer 59

* Limited range of answers and produce quantitative data, *which means answers are easier to analyse using graphs and measures such as the mean.*

Question 60

What are **limitations** of **closed questions?**

Answer 60

* Respondents may be forced to select answers that don't represent their real thoughts or behaviour. *This means that data lacks validity.* * Participants may select 'don't know' or have an acquiescence bias, *and therefore data collected is not informative.*

Question 61

The limitations of closed questions mean \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.

Answer 61

... they are best used when straightforward, factual information is needed.