SELF – REPORT TECHNIQUESINTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS

What are they?

How are they used?

What are their strengths and weaknesses?

What is a questionnaire?

QUESTIONNAIRES

A printed series of questions to gather information about specific areas of interest i.e. healthy living

A survey is a form of questionnaire E.g. National Census – carried out every ten years

and involves every adult in the UK Allow researchers to ask participants questions about

their attitudes, behaviours or intentions.

Open or Closed questions?

What do you think these are?

Closed questions

The researcher determines the range of possible answers – i.e. scales, or

Participant can reply using a “yes” or “no” response

Doesn’t allow for detail

For example….

Your Task – closed questions

Using page 26 in your textbooks, develop a number of closed questions related to the topic of school/a hobby so that it is written in the form of a checklist, rank, attitude scale, and likert scale

Open Questions

The researcher does not restrict the range of available answers

Detailed answers can be produced

Write down an example of an open-ended question, again related to the topic of school

Leading Questions

Choice of wording suggests the participants should reply in a certain way

“You do find Psychology interesting don’t you?”

Your Task

Complete the card sort activity to distinguish between strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires

ADVANTAGES OF QUESTIONNAIRES?

Simplicity – used with minimal training and analysed easily

Speed and cost – Large amounts of information gathered quickly and easily

Less influence of interpersonal variables – less opportunities for researchers to influence information provided

DISADVANTAGES OF QUESTIONNAIRES

Issues with question wording – ambiguous questions, leading questions, different interpretation of language

Respondents might not be honest

Response rates of people given/sent the questionnaire can be low

Researcher bias if they are present when respondent carries out the questionnaire

Lack of detail in responses – not good if you need more information

INTERVIEWS

Common way of carrying out research

Asking questions face to face

Can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured

What might this mean?

Your Task

In your small groups, read about the type of interview you have been given. Provide a summary for the rest of the class, including the advantages of the technique

Structured interviews

Unstructured interviews

Semi-structured

ADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEWS DISADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEWS

Advantages of Interviews

Flexible – can investigate issues that may be difficult to do using any other techniques

Issues can be explored in depth

Detailed data produced

More personal – can tackle sensitive topics

Can assess reactions – might be able to tell if someone is being honest

Different types of interviews – can be tailored to different research studies

Disadvantages of interviews

Difficult to interpret data – bias, subjectivity

Time and effort involved

Interviewees may be unable to articulate their thoughts properly

Difficult to predict how well the interaction will go between interviewer and interviewee

Demand characteristics – interviewees may respond in a way they thing the researcher wants them to

Training needed

High cost

Focus Groups

Interview a small group of people at the same time

What might be the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Eye on the exam

A psychologist wanted to investigate how aggressive children are when they are at home. He interviewed a sample of their parents to investigate this.

Explain why using interviews might be better than using questionnaires in this situation.

(4 marks)