Pros and Cons in Self Reports

Pros and Cons in Self Reports

1. Likert Scales

   • It can give the researcher an idea on how strongly the participant feels about something
   • A lot of participants respond towards the middle of the scale to look less extreme. This therefore reduces validity as it is not measuring what the participant truly feels
   • The data collected is quantitative, meaning that it is easier to statistically analyse. This then makes conclusions drawn more reliable as the data is interpreted objectively
   • Limited data is gathered, making it harder to explain why the participant holds certain views

2. Open Questions

   • Answers provide qualitative data, allowing the researcher to analyse the reasons for the participants' responses which therefore increases criterion validity as the answer measures the true behaviour of the participant
   • It is much harder to draw together conclusive answers as it is unlikely for participants to use exactly the same wording for similar responses. It also allows participants to alter vocabulary to sound more socially acceptable
   • Interpretations to the question are subjective, meaning that answers may not be relevant which could make conclusions unreliable. In addition, subjective answers can lead to researcher bias

3. Closed Questions

   • Answers are easier to analyse as quantitative data is collected. This means that interpretations are subjective and therefore increases reliability as conclusions are consistent
   • Results gathered lack meaning as participants cannot express their answers fully. This lowers criterion validity as opinions cannot be accounted for
   • It is much easier to spot anomalies in any patterns and trends found. Also, it is easier for participants to respond to as there are no grey areas
   • Answers provide nominal data, meaning that only the mode can be found, not the median or mean. This makes it harder to understand the behaviour further than patterns and trends shown

4. Structured Questionnaires

   • Lacks ecological validity as completing a questionnaire is a long way from normal everyday behaviour. Also lacks measurement validity as as categories used may have little relevance to other members of society
   • Can suffer from social desirability bias as participants give answers closer to the middle of the scale to appear less extreme
   • Lots of data can be collected quickly. Also they can be repeated over and over, meaning that it has concurrent validity

5. Unstructured Questionnaires

   • Data collected is difficult to measure as similar responses are likely to be worded differently. Also has low reliability as the questionnaire is hard to replicate

6. Structured Interviews

   • It is easy to replicate as a fixed set of questions are used, therefore making it more reliable
   • They are not flexible, meaning that liited data can be collected as to why the participant feels a certain way. This is because they cannpt ask follow-up questions, meaning that it lacks validity
   • A large amount of data can be collected as they are quick to conduct. This menas that the findings can be generalized to a larger target population

7. Unstructured Interviews

   • There is higher validity as open questions are used which allow participants to expand their opinions
   • It is very time consuming to collect and analyse quantitative data. Also, employing and training interviewers can be very expensive