1. SELF – REPORT TECHNIQUES
INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES

2. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS What are they?
How are they used?
What are their strengths and weaknesses?

3. What is a questionnaire?

4. 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.

5. Open or Closed questions?
What do you think these are?

6. 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….

7. 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

8. 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

9. Leading Questions
Choice of wording suggests the participants should reply in a certain way
“You do find Psychology interesting don’t you?”

10. Your Task
Complete the card sort activity to distinguish between strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires

11. 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

12. 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

13. INTERVIEWS Common way of carrying out research
Asking questions face to face
Can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured
What might this mean?

14. 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

15. Structured interviews

16. Unstructured interviews

17. Semi-structured

18. ADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEWS DISADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEWS

19. 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

20. 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

21. Focus Groups Interview a small group of people at the same time
What might be the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

22. 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)