self report techniques Flashcards
what is a self report technique
- ppt reveals perosonal info about themselves eg beh, emotions in response to questions or experience regarding a specific topic
2 self report methods
- interview, direct questioning in person or through a call
- questionaire, ppts give responses based on questions sent to them either through the post or online
what is an open question
- question is phrased in a way that allows ppt to respond in any way they want
- produces qualitiative, non numerical data
strength of open questions
ppt have freedom to choose their responses which can lead to more valid (true) ones
weakness of open questions
data analysis bet large numbers of ppt responses much more difficult, harder to spot patterns
what are closed questions
- question offers fixed number of responses eg yes/no or a scale
- produces quantitative numerical data
strength of quantitative data
easy data analysis between large n.o of ppt responses, easier to spot patterns
weakness of closed questions
ppt responses limited so potentially less valid, responses may be the best fit but not reflect how they really feel
6 ways of desiging an interview/questionaire
- avoid jargon
- interviewer has skill to reword questions
- no leading questions
- piloting questions
- filler questions
- standardised questions
reason for avoiding jargon
ppt may not understand technical terms and feel embarrassed to ask for clarification or unable to in a questionaire resulting in innaccurate responses
reason for the ability of interviewer to reword questions
- using a skilled interviewer means questions ppt dont understand can be reworded, this should be in a way that doesn’t change the questions meaning so responses can be compared to other ppts
reason for avoiding leading questions
bias responses in one direction, so questions should be written so that the dont imply a certain “correct” answer
why should you pilot questions
- running a small scale interview or questionaire can identify questions that are confusing, give away the aim or dont produce a detailed enough response
- these can be changed before actual study
why use filler questions
- these questions arent linked to the research aim but can be added to put ppts at ease and build rapport before more challenging questions
- act as red herrings to help hide research aim, thus reducing demand characterstics
what is a structured interview
interviewer reads out a pre determined set of questions that are asked in a fixed order
strengths of a structured interview
- interviewer doesnt need to be highly trained
- easy to replicate due to standardised format and reduces difference between interviewers
weakness of structured interviews
responses from ppt cannot be followed up with more questions limiting the richness of data collected
what is an unstructured interview
open conversationn, no set questions
strengths of unstructured interview
- rapport is more likely
- interesting reponses can be asked follow up questions
weakness of unstructured interview
- interviewer bias
- highly trained interview req to be able think of questions in the moment
- hard to compare interviews as every one will be different
what is a semi structured interview
combo of pre det set of questions with the abilit to ask additional ones
strength of semi structured interview
- easy to comapre responses bc same questions used
- rapport more likely
- ability ask follow up questions to gain more insight and detailed responses
weaknesses of semi structured interview
highly trained interviewer req to think of appropriate questions in the moment
4 kinds of bias that come from using self report techniques
- social desirability bias
- demand characteristics
- researcher bias
- investigator effects
