SELF REPORT

SELF REPORT

1. The two main types of self report are interviews and questionnaires

   • the person filling in the questionnaire is known as the respondent
   • interviews include structured, semi structured, clinical and unstructured

2. Types of question

   • CLOSED questions give the answers to the respondent and they have to choose the most appropriate answer for them- easily turned into QUANTITATIVE DATA
   • OPEN questions ask the respondent to answer a set question but leave space underneath so that the participant can answer in whatever style they choose- produces QUALITATIVE DATA
     • Often assesses emotions and reasons why people do things

3. PROS of self report

   • survey research can ask people DIRECTLY rather than inferring attitudes from behaviour
   • questions can be STANDARDISED to compare responses but can also include open questions
   • able to collect large amounts of data often from a large sample- cheap and easy to photocopy questionnaires

4. CONS of self report

   • based on self report data- may be biased or dishonest
   • some responses may be more socially desirable than others
   • peoples behaviour and attitudes are not always the same 'say one thing, do the other'
   • hard to collect under controlled conditions

5. Likert scales are used to measure attitudes to certain ideas

   • strongly (dis)agree/(dis)agree etc
     • half of the statements represent positive attitude towards attitude object and half negative
       • controls standard response set (same answer for all statements)
     • 4 point scale can force participant to make a decision when they're undecided- lowers validity
       • 5 is better

6. ensuring questions are valid

   • no leading questions
     • guarantee participants anonymity(SDB)
       • have an other:please specify option at the end of forced choice questions
   • have 'filler' questions to disguise aim(DC)
     • get a researcher blind to the aim of study to analyse data (RB)
     • deception

7. ensuring reliability

   • large number of questions asked about the same thing- ensures consistency
   • repeatability (same results, different people)
   • low controls lowers reliability as extraneous variables could affect answers eg, if participant is answering with friends
     • ambigious questions that can be interpreted differently lowers reliability
   • low response rate :(