Self Report

Self Report

1. Questionnaire

   • A Questionnaire is a research instrument composed of a series of questions designed to gather information about a certain topic. It can be administered via paper and pencil, where respondents simply fill out a survey form and send it back by mail or other means.
     • Strengths and Weaknesses
       • + Can be mathematically analysed
       • + Can be replicated and get a wide range of data
       • - Can be subject to social desirability and answers may not be truthful
       • Sample bias because questionnaire can only be filled out by literate people with time to do it
       • Writing good questions: Questions should be clear and not ambiguous, also questions must be non biased and have no leading questions
         • Open questions: These invite respondents to provide their own answer rather then to select one, this leads to producing qualitative data
           • + Can provide rich detail, giving the researcher new insights
           • - Difficult to analyse as there are numerous different answers
         • Closed questions: These have a range of questions in which respondents select one
           • + They produce Quantitative data
           • - Respondents may be forced to select answers that do not represent real thoughts or behaviour
   • Writing good questionnaire and interviews:
     • Questions should be unthreatening and easy to answer, more challenging questions will be asked once trust is established
     • Filler questions may be used that disguise the true aims of the questionnaire/ interview so respondents are more likely to be honest
     • Sampling techniques are important in obtaining data because they aim avoid bias, a quota might try to avoid bias by choosing a certain age or social class group
     • A pilot study enables questions to be tested on small groups, to refine questions if they provide any difficulty

2. Interview

   • Unstructured interviews: The questions are unplanned and are usually guided by the participants response
     • Strengths and Weaknesses
       • + More detailed info can be collected because interviewer can deal with incomplete answers
       • + Can access extra info because questions develop according to respondents answer
       • - More like to be effected by interviewer bias
       • - Requires trained interviewers who can develop insightful unbiased questions on the spot and avoid interviewer bias
   • Structured interviews: These are questions provided in advance and is the same for all participants
     • Strengths and Weaknesses
       • + Easily repeated
       • + Easier to analyse
       • - Answers may not be truthful because of leading questions or social desirability bias
       • - Answers may be influenced by the way the interviewer asks the question ( interview bias)

3. Validity

   • Internal validity may be threatened by social desirability bias, leading questions and or interviewer bias
   • Internal validity also concerns whether the questionnaire/ interview is measuring what its intended to measure, this can be established by using concurrent validity
   • External validity concerns the representativeness of the sample which affects the ability to generalise findings to other people and situations ( affects of population validity and ecological validity)

4. Reliability

   • Internal reliability concerns the consistency of questions used throughout the interview or questionnaire / psychological test.
     • To assess the internal reliability the split-half method can be used ( scores responses on both halves of the tests should be consistent)
   • Internal reliability also concerns the extent to which two interviewers produce the same outcome for an interview, this is called inter- interviewer reliability
   • To assess external reliability the test-retest method can be used when the same questionnaire/interview is used and repeated with the same respondent a few weeks apart, scores responses should be consistent

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