Self Report, Questionnaires and Interviews

Question 1

What are self-report measures?

Answer 1

A research method where participants give details about themselves rather than having them recorded by someone else

Question 2

What are open questions?

Answer 2

Question with no fixed / optional responses where ppt can answer at any length they wish. E.g. “How are you feeling today?”

Question 3

Strength of open questions:

Answer 3

+ Provide in depth data as ppts can elaborate on their thoughts and behaviours and possibly explain the reason why

Question 4

Weakness of open questions:

Answer 4

• No fixed options to choose from - ppts can answer in many varied ways. This makes a standardised form of analysing ppts responses collectively difficult.

Question 5

What are closed questions?

Answer 5

Questions with predetermined options that ppts choose from to respond to the question

Question 6

Strength of closed questions:

Answer 6

+ SInce there are finite options for ppts, their responses are much easier to analyse collectively and generate statistical data and objective conclusions

Question 7

Weakness of closed questions:

Answer 7

• Do not provide in depth info as ppts cannot explain why they selected an option

Question 8

State the 3 designs of questionnaires:

Answer 8

• Likert scales
• Rating scales
• Fixed choice options

Question 9

What are Likert Scales?

Answer 9

Likert scales indicate agreement with a particular statement.
E.g. “pineapples never belong on pizza - 1- strongly agree, 2- Agree, 3- Neutral, 4- disagree, 5- strongly disagree”

Question 10

What are Rating Scales?

Answer 10

Rating scales work by getting respondants to identify a value that represents how they feel about a topic
E.g. “Is the pain on a scale of 1-10, 1- little, 10-most”

Question 11

What are Fixed Choice Options?

Answer 11

Give ppts a list of options and ask them to select one. E.g. “What is your favourite pizza topping? Pineapple, olives, fish”

Question 12

Strengths of questionnaires:

Answer 12

+ Quick and convenient can help gather a lot of data in a short time frame as ppts can respond in their own time and researcher doesn’t have to be present
+ Can be considered ethical as ppts are fully aware that they are completing a questionnaire + therefore by default taking part in research (consent)

Question 13

Weaknesses of questionnaires:

Answer 13

• Ppts may lie about the behaviour/ thoughts to create a positive impression on researcher (social desireability) - leads to false data + makes findings less valid
• If ppts do not understand question, they may either leave blank/ answer incorrectly - both cases lead to faulty data which decreases the validity of conclusions drawn (this doesn’t happen in interviews as researcher is present to clarify any misunderstandings)

Question 14

Definition of interviews:

Answer 14

A research method where info gathered by ppt verbally saying it to the researcher

Question 15

What are structured interviews?

Answer 15

• Contains questions which are all pre-determined and every ppt is asked the exact same questions in the same order
• Researcher cannot ask follow up questions/ extra questions based on ppts response even if they wish to

Question 16

What is a weakness of structured interviews?

Answer 16

Responses lack detail if ppt says something of interest to researcher, they do not have the liberty to ask follow up questions to gain further info, decrease in validity

Question 17

What are three strengths of structured interviews?

Answer 17

+ Easier to analyse as all ppts recieve the same questions- easier to conduct collective question by question analysis of all ppt responses to particular questions- allows researchers to gain an overall understanding of all ppt responses per question
+ Does not require a lot of skill or training to conduct, researcher just reads out the same pre-determined questions to all ppts and do not need any questioning skills
+ As researcher asks same questions in same order, they are able to establish standardised procedure as other researchers can replicate the interviewer to check for consistency of findings- increase in reliability.

Question 18

What are UNstructured interviews?

Answer 18

• Researcher starts interview with a topic/theme/starting questions in mind
• Following questions based on interviewee response
• Each interview will have a varying set of questions

Question 19

What is one strength of UNstructured interviews?

Answer 19

+ Provides indepth information if ppt mentions something of interest to the researcher. They can ask follow up questions + extract more relevant information, increase validity

Question 20

What are three weaknesses of UNstructured interviews?

Answer 20

• Difficult to analyse diff set of questions - difficult to do collective question by question analysis- cannot gain overal understanding
• Require a lot of training, interviewer needs to be able to ask good follow up questions that target info well in a non-leading manner- training staff may have a monetary and time impact
• Whilst standardised procedure is possible, other researchers cannot replicate interview to check for consistency of findings as well as they can in structured interviews, decrease in validity

Question 21

Designing interviews:

Answer 21

• No ambigous questions
• Questions should not include multiple questions within them
• Questions should not include unneccessarily complicated language/jargan

Question 22

Overall strengths of interviews:

Answer 22

+ Compared to questionnaires, less likelihood of misunderstanding questions and providing inaccurate data as if ppt does not understand question, they can ask the researcher who is present to clarify misunderstandings

Question 23

Overall weaknessess of interviews:

Answer 23

• More time consuming than questionnaires as researcher has to be present and directly question ppts whilst recording their responses. Takes more effort from researcher
• Ppts may lie about true behaviour/ thoughts to create a positive impression on the researcher. Leads to false data-findings are invalid. This may be worse in interviews than questionnaires as ppts are in direct contact w/researcher