Quantitative and Qualitative data

Quantitative and qualitative data Questionnaires can gather both sets of data, as can interviews. This is called a mixed method Some research only used one type of data Quantitative: Involve numbers (percentages, number of yes/no answers) Closed-questions are used to produce quantitative data Qualitative: ideas, opinions and attitudes Open questions produce qualitative data

Decide whether these are open/closed and what type of data is produced (qualitative or quantitative? How would you describe obedience to authority? Do you agree that everyone should have the same job? Yes or no? Rate on a scare of 0-5 (0=not at all and 5= totally) how much you agree with the statement ‘everybody should have the same job opportunities’. What do you think about people who discriminate against others because of their race? How happy are you? Please rate on a scale from (0 very sad to 5 very happy)

5 mins Similar points as open and closed questions evaluation (pg.287) Quantitative: Qualitative Strengths: Weaknesses:

Issues with self report designs

Please define the following: Social desirability pg. 288 Demand characteristics pg.288 Response bias pg. 285 Researcher effects: The interviewer may have certain characteristics that can influence the respondent’s answers. i.e. If the interviews is female/male, their age, manner & personality. i.e. interview about female discrimination in work place with a female interviewer and male respondent. They may not feel comfortable providing them with a detailed response. How would these effects affect the validity of the research? Provide an explanation for each term.

How to avoid these issues when conducting research: Provide an example of a way you can avoid response bias when constructing questions for a questionnaire: How can we reduce the problems associated social desirability? How can we try and avoid demand characteristics? In an interview about female discrimination in the work place with a female interviewer and male respondent – how can we control for researcher effects in this example?

Evaluating self report as a research method We can evaluate questionnaires according to validity Construct validity: the questions must measure what they are supposed to measure Internal validity: no other variables (except the IV) could have caused the effect Ecological validity: uses the respondent's natural setting And results can be generalised to other settings. Predictive validity: results would predict a real life situation and Demand characteristics and social desirability

Evaluating self report as a research method Questionnaires can be evaluated by considering reliability If the questionnaire was carried out again, would the same results be found? Closed questions have forced choice answers- reasonably reliable Questionnaires are set out and repeated exactly (standardised) – this is a condition for reliability Open questions allow for opinions to be given- so are less reliable Internal reliability – Will participants respond in the same manner on different occasions (consistent). To test this (Test-retest method) – same person given the questionnaire to complete for a second time on a different occasion Do all questions measure the same concept (i.e prejudice) and are the questions consistent? Spit half method – splitting questions into two halves and comparing the results from each half Similar scores for each half – all questions are measuring the concept Different scores – not all of the questions are measuring the same concept.

Methodological terms covered so far – recap to ensure understanding Terms about questionnaires: pilot study, Likert-scale questions, ranked scales, personal data, respondent, open questions and closed questions Types of data: qualitative and quantitative Evaluation terms: validity, reliability, objectivity/subjectivity, generalisability, and credibility Terms about bias in studies: social desirability, demand characteristics, response bias, researcher effects Terms to control bias: controls, standardised instructions Pilot study

Extension Task Give one strength and one weakness of using self report as a research method (4 marks) 2 marks for strength 2 marks for weakness All A03 – evaluation