Show Menu
Cheatography
  1. Home >
  2. Education >

Psychology - Research methods 2 Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Reasearch methods 2 - Self report techniques

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Self report techniques

Self report techniques
Self report techniques are methods in which data is collected by the reporter giving inform­ation about their thoughts and feeling to the researcher
There are two types of report methods…
1. Questi­onn­aires
2. Interviews

Questi­onn­aires

open ended questions
open ended questions are questions in which the partic­ipant can provide their own answer rather than selecting one of a few predet­ermined answers.
advantages
disadv­antages
- an advantage of using open ended questions is that they allow the respondent to expand on their answer rather than just selecting one of the predet­ermined answers - this allows them to give more context
- a disadv­antage of open ended questions is that they are harder to summarise and analyse to draw a conclu­sion.
- an advantage of of using open ended questions is that it may provide unexpected insights that resear­chers were not expecting
- a disadv­antage of open ended questi­onn­aires is that in reality most responders do not want to write lengthy answers
Closed questions
close questions are questions were the respondent has to select an answer from a set of predet­ermined answers
advantages
disadv­antages
- an advantage of using closed questions is that they produce quanti­tative questions that are easier to summaries and draw conclu­sions and means
- a disadv­antage of using closed questions is that they may force respon­dents to select answers that are not reflective of their true feelings/ emotions/ or behavi­ours- this means that the results lack validity
 
- a disadv­antage of using closed questions is that respon­dents may have a preference for selecting a specific answer - this means that the results are not accurate
Designing a Questi­onnaire
Clarity
- when designing an interview the questions should be clear - they should not have ambiguity, double negatives or double barrelled questions.
Bias
- researcher must minimise the impact of interv­iewer bias - this is when the body language or tone of voice of the interv­iewer leads the respondent to answer in a particular way.
 

Interviews

Interview
- am interview is a self report method of collecting data which includes real time intera­ctions with partic­ipants.
There are two types of interv­iews...
Structured interview
Unstru­ctured interviews
- a structured interview has predet­ermined questions and there is no deviation from the original questions.
- in an unstru­ctured interview new questions are developed during the course of the interv­iews.
Strength
Strength
- can be easily repeated because the questions are standa­rdised - this means that answers from different people can be compared
- easier to analyse that an unstru­ctured interview because the answers are more predic­table
- more detailed data can be collected because the interv­iewer tailors questions to the interv­iewees specific responses.
Weakness
Weakness
- compar­ability may be a problem if the same interv­iewer behaves differ­ent;ly on different occasions
- the interv­iewers expect­ations may influence the interv­iewees answer - invest­igator bias
unstru­ctured interviews require interv­iewers with more skill because the interv­iewer has to develop new questions on the spot. this means that it is more expensive to hire the interv­iewer an therefore the procedure is more expensive.
- such in depth questions may be more likely to lack object­ivity because of their instan­taneous nature with no time for the interv­iewer to reflect on what to say.
Designing an interview
Recording an interview
- interv­iewer may take notes while the interv­iewee is responding - however this is likely t interfere with their listening skills and the respodant may feel as though they are not being listened to
interviews may be audio recorded or video recorded
The effect of the interv­iewer
- the interv­iewers need to show interest in what the interv­iewee is saying this includ­es....
- nonverbal commun­ication - such as sitting with your arms crossed may show disapp­roval whereas head nodding and leaning froward may encourage the interviewee.
- listening skills - an interv­iewer needs to know when and how to speak such as they should not interrupt too often and have a range of encour­aging phrases to show interest.