How are you feeling?

On a scale of 1 to 5?

Tell me why you feel that way

Research Methods

Self-Report
Today’s lesson

Describe and evaluate different types of question

closed Qs open Qs, rating scales, Likert scales.

Describe and evaluate different types of interview

structured, semi-structured, unstructured.

Describe psychometric tests.

 Self-Report
A research method, such as a
questionnaire or interview, which obtains
data by asking participants to provide
information about themselves.
 Two types of self-report method

Questionnaires Interviews
(Psychometric Tests)
Questionnaires
Interviews

A research method that

involves uses written
questions to gather data.

 Written form
 Online survey
Questionnaires
There are 4 types of question

Likert
Scales
Rating scales
Open questions
Closed questions
Self report items that
produce quantitative Close-ended
data. questions
They only have a few,
stated alternative Example question:
responses and no Pick the dessert that
opportunity to expand you like the most;
pancakes, chocolate
on answers. brownie, ice cream,
tiramisu, crème brulee
Example question: Statements the participants
read, then state whether
“I am often enthused they:
during my psychology
lessons!” Strongly agree
☐ Strongly agree Agree
☐ Agree Disagree
☐ Disagree Strongly Disagree
☐ Strongly disagree

Likert Scales
Example question:
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being
Questions and
very likely), how likely are statements where the
you to go to the park on a participant gives an
weekend?
answer in the form of
1 2 3 4 5 a number

Rating Scales
 Open-ended
Self-report items that
give qualitative data. questions
Participants give full, Example question:
detailed answers in
their own words. Tell me about your
mother.
Filler questions Items put into a self-report to disguise
the aim of the study by hiding important
questions among irrelevant ones. (will
depend on study aims)

”What hobbies do you enjoy?”

“What is your view on pets?"

Avoids demand characteristics or social desirability bias

Could be demographic questions – age, gender, etc

 Open vs. Closed
Prompts in-depth, qualitative, Simple choices
detail-rich answers
Quick to complete and to
Participant response not limited analyse
Explore reasons behind
Quantitative data
behaviour, opinions, attitudes
Hard to code or analyse Might not have right
options
Cannot analyse statistically
May have low inter-rater Have to list choices when
reliability writing questions.
 Inter-rater Reliability

The extent to which 2

researchers interpreting
qualitative responses in
a self report will produce
the same records from
raw data
Let’s play: What type of question?

A researcher asks “how

satisfied, on a scale of 1
to 10, are people with a
bus service?”
Let’s play: What type of question?

A researcher asks if
people like their job.
Let’s play: What type of question?

A researcher asks if
people agree with the
statement: Cats are evil
beings
Let’s play: What type of question?

What is your gender:

male or female?
Let’s play: What type of question?

How do you travel to

school?
Walk, bus, car, scooter,
other
Let’s play: What type of question?

How would you suggest

parents should
discipline their
children?
Let’s play: What type of question?

Indicate which animals

scare you: cat, dog,
snake, bird, rabbit, toad,
lizard
Let’s play: What type of question?

Describe your views on

the use of social media
to encourage helping
behaviour.
Let’s play: What type of question?

Do you feel it is
important to allow
freedom for young
people in their choice of
television viewing?
Write a self-report questionnaire.
You can do this online or on Word/paper.
It must include:
at least, 4 close-ended questions (one must use a
rating or Likert scale), 2 open-ended questions
collect both qualitative and quantitative data
A list of topics you will look for comments about for
your open-ended questions
Sentence starters:
OPEN: what do you think..? why do you believe…? Describe… Explain
how… When do you feel…? How would you suggest…?
CLOSED: What is..? How do you get to school? Bus/Walk/Car/Train Tick
as many of the following options that apply. On a scale of 1 – 5,
Force at least 5 people to complete your survey.
(use any means necessary)
If you bring your data next lesson, we can analyse it.

Sentence starters:
OPEN: what do you think..? why do you believe…? Describe… Explain
how… When do you feel…? How would you suggest…?
CLOSED: What is..? How do you get to school? Bus/Walk/Car/Train Tick
as many of the following options that apply. On a scale of 1 – 5,
 Interviews

Research method
that uses verbal
questions asked
directly.
 Interviews
There are 3 types of interviews
May be recorded
to transcribe
d exact responses
u c t u re
S t r
May be
Semi-struct conduc
ured t he p h o
ted ove
r
ne or i n
Unstructured person
 Structured Interviews

May also
have a
standardised
time limit
Fixed order of questions (may be scripted).
Interviewer’s posture, voice, etc may be standardised.
Semi-structured Interviews

Fixed list of questions.

Interviewer can change order of questions, or
add/remove questions to help clarify responses.
 Unstructured Interviews
More flexible but
may be hard to
compare data
between
participants

Interviewer has a theme or list of topics that needs to be

discussed.
May have an initial question but each subsequent
question is based on response given by the participant.
Leading questions:
Leading questions may cause the participants to answer
in a way which is not reflective of their real point of
view. In an unstructured interview, the person asking
the questions may deliberately or accidently lead the
participant to give the response that they want.

o A double blind technique could

be used,

o Leading questions can be

identified and eradicated by using
a pilot study
Psychometric tests are a standard and
scientific method used to measure individuals'
mental capabilities and behavioural style.

Psychometric Tests
 Questionnaires
+ -
Questionnaires may encourage Social desirability bias – answers given
truthfulness, as the responses are not to ‘look good’ rather than based on truth
given face-to-face
Closed questions force participants to
give answers other than their true
Large sample can answer the opinion
questionnaire in a short time span >
People with free time do them
should increase representativeness &
Retired people, students, etc.
generalisability of the findings
This can lead to a biased sample
Easy to ignore
 Interviews
+ -
Participants might be less likely to give
truthful answers (SDB) as they are face-
to-face with interviewer
With lots of open questions, participants Time consuming for researchers – also
are more likely to reveal more reasons restricts type of participants
for their behaviours / opinions
Researchers must be subjective rather
than objective when analysing the
answers
Let’s play: Questionnaire or Interview?

A researcher posts out

questions for
participants to answer.
Let’s play: Questionnaire or Interview?

A researcher asks a set

of pre-written
questions to people in a
mall
What type of interview?
Let’s play: Questionnaire or Interview?

A researcher meets
participants for coffee
and chats about college
satisfaction

What type of interview?