1.2.

Self-Reports
 Introduction
O Participant directly gives information to the researcher.
O It is different from
O Experimental test researcher collect data out
O Observation of the participant

O There are two techniques for prepare a self-report.

O Questionnaires
O Interviews
O Above techniques used to ask questions.

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1. Questionnaire
O Types
O Closed questions
O Open questions
O Evaluation
O Advantages
O Disadvantages

2. Interviews
O Types
O Structured
O Unstructured
O Semi-structured
O Evaluating interviews.
O Apply knowledge of self reports to novel research situation.
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 1.Questionnaires
O Presented in the written form.
O On a paper
O Via online
O It is a research instrument consisting of a series of
questions for the purpose of gathering information from
respondents.
O The questionnaire was invented by the Statistical Society
of London in 1838.
O Although questionnaires are often designed for statistical
analysis of the responses, this is not always the case.
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O Questionnaires have advantages over some other types
of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much
effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone
surveys, and often have standardized answers that make
it simple to compile data.
O However, such standardized answers may frustrate
users.
O Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that
respondents must be able to read the questions and
respond to them.
O Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a
survey by questionnaire may not be concrete.

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 1.1. types of Questionnaires
O Closed questions —fixed set of possible
responses
O Open questions —descriptive answers

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 1.1.1.Closed questions
O Form of simple choices;
O Yes/ No answers
O Items from a list
O Rating scales(chosen a number)
O Likert scales(agree statement)
O ‘Obesity is not important’ or ‘exercise is a necessity’------
strongly agree/agree/don’t know/disagree/strongly disagree.
O Examples of CQ.
O What is your gender? male/female
O Indicate which animal scare you? Dog/cat/rat/spider

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 1.1.2.Open questions
O Respondent give detailed answers.
O It may be quite long.
O It contain more depth than CQ.
O Easy to explore reasons behind behaviours, emotions or reasoning.
O They typically ask ;
O Why
O Describe
O What do you think
O Explain
O How would you suggest
O Why do you believe
O When do you feel

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 1.2.Evaluating questionnaires
O Advantages
O CQ are easier to analyze than interviews.
O Simple to summarize the findings.
O Possible to workout averages.
O Helps to describe patterns and in the results.
O Can collect qualitative data.
O Produced more detailed.
O Produced depth of information.

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O Disadvantages
O Open questions have to be interpreted.
O OQ lead to a lack of reliability.
O If more than one researcher is involved, there may also
differences between them(Inter-Rater-Reliability).
O Participants can ignore questionnaire easily.
O Return rate may be very low.
O The people who do reply to questionnaire may all be quite
similar.(unemployed and retired one reply).
O People may lie.
O Lowering validity.(social desirability bias).
O Filter questions may be there.

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 2. Interviews
O Researcher conduct typically face-to –face with the
participant.
O Can conduct any time medium;
O Real time interaction
O Telephone
O Chat facility
O Same questions can asked even in questionnaires (OQ).
O Schedule, range and order will be change according to the
different types of interviews.

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O There are three types of interviews;
1. Structured interview
2. Unstructured interview
3. Semi- structured interview

1.Structured interviews;
O Same fixed questions asked in order.
O Same questions asked from every participants.
O There may even be instructions for the interviewer to
standardized each time data is collected.
O How to sit
O How to dress

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O A structured interview (also known as a standardized
interview or a researcher-administered survey) is a
quantitative research method commonly employed in survey
research.
O The aim of this approach is to ensure that each interview is
presented with exactly the same questions in the same order.
O This ensures that answers can be reliably aggregated
(mass)and that comparisons can be made with confidence
between sample sub-groups or between different survey
periods.
O Structured interviews are a means of collecting data for a
statistical survey.
O In this case, the data is collected by an interviewer rather than
through a self-administered questionnaire.

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O Interviewers read the questions exactly as they appear on
the survey questionnaire.
O The choice of answers to the questions is often fixed
(close-ended) in advance, though open-ended questions can
also be included within a structured interview.
O A structured interview also standardizes the order in which
questions are asked of survey respondents, so the questions
are always answered within the same context.
O This is important for minimizing the impact of context
effects, where the answers given to a survey question can
depend on the nature of preceding questions.
O Though context effects can never be avoided, it is often
desirable to hold them constant across all respondents.
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 O Qualitative research
O Structured interviews can also be used as a qualitative research
methodology.
O For structured qualitative interviews, it is usually necessary for
researchers to develop an interview schedule which lists the wording .
O Interview schedules are sometimes considered a means by which
researchers can increase the reliability and credibility of research data.

O Hiring
O Structured interviews have been advocated for use in the hiring process
as well, though the practice has not been widely adopted.
O The United States Postal Service uses structured interviews for at least
some of its hiring, and has printed a guide to structured interviews that is
publicly available online.
O Also Google started them too after data-driven research found it to be
beneficial over more common unstructured interviews.
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2.Unstructured interviews;
O Question may be dependent for participants.
O Different questions may be asked from every participants.
O Very flexible technique.
O Very hard to compare data collected from different participants
or researchers.
O An unstructured interview or non-directive interview is an
interview in which questions are not prearranged.
O These non-directive interviews are considered to be the
opposite of a structured interview which offers a set amount of
standardized questions.
O The form of the unstructured interview varies widely, with
some questions being prepared in advance in relation to a
topic that the researcher or interviewer wishes to cover.

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O They tend to be more informal and free flowing than a
structured interview, much like an everyday conversation.
O Probing(examining) is seen to be the part of the research
process that differentiates the in-depth, unstructured
interview from an everyday conversation.
O This nature of conversation allows for spontaneity and for
questions to develop during the course of the interview,
which are based on the interviewees' responses.
O The chief feature of the unstructured interview is the idea of
probe questions that are designed to be as open as possible.
O It is a qualitative research method and accordingly
prioritizes validity and the depth of the interviewees'
answers.

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O One of the potential drawbacks is the loss of reliability,
thereby making it more difficult to draw patterns among
interviewees' responses in comparison to structured
interviews.
O Unstructured interviews are used in a variety of fields and
circumstances, ranging from research in social sciences, such
as sociology, to college and job interviews.
O Fontana and Frey have identified three types of in ;
O depth, ethnographic, unstructured interviews
O oral history, creative interviews (an unconventional interview in
that it does not follow the rules of traditional interviewing)
O post-modern interviews.

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 Advantages
O More complex issues can be probed
O Readability and validity of the unstructured
interview
O Balance in power relationships

Disadvantages
O Time Consuming
O Opportunity for bias
O Perceived difficulties in comparing data

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3. Semi- structured interviews

O There are some fixed questions.

O There are some similar information can collect from every
participants.
O Comparisons can be made.
O A semi-structured interview is a meeting in which the
interviewer does not strictly follow a formalized list of
questions.
O They will ask more open-ended questions, allowing for a
discussion with the interviewee rather than a straight
forward question and answer format.

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 O A semi-structured interview is a method of research used
most often in the social sciences.
O While a structured interview has a rigorous set of
questions which does not allow one to divert.
O A semi-structured interview is open, allowing new ideas
to be brought up during the interview as a result of what
the interviewee says.
O The interviewer in a semi-structured interview generally
has a framework of themes to be explored.
O However, the specific topic or topics that the interviewer
wants to explore during the interview should usually be
thought about well in advance (especially during
interviews for research projects).

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 O It is generally beneficial for interviewers to have an
interview guide prepared, which is an informal grouping
of topics and questions that the interviewer can ask in
different ways for different participants.
O Interview guides help researchers to focus an interview on
the topics at hand without constraining them to a
particular format.
O This freedom can help interviewers to tailor their
questions to the interview context/situation, and to the
people, they are interviewing.

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 O Semi-structured interviews are widely used in qualitative
research;
O in household research,
O couple interviews
O A semi-structured interview involving for example two
spouses can result in "the production of rich data,
including observational data."

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 Evaluating interviews
O Interviewees may lie, because;
O They want to seem more acceptable
O They think they know the aim of the study
O Trying to help the researcher by giving the answers they need.
O Disrupt the research by doing the opposite
O Time consuming.
O This can be a problem if it restricts the types of participants
who volunteer for the research because of the narrow
representation of feelings, beliefs or experience.
O Some participant’s responses may not ‘subjective’.
O Responses were based on personal perspectives.

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 Applying your knowledge of
self- reports to novel research
situations
O Should recognize self- reports studies whether
questionnaire or interviews.
O Use these things in new situation.
O Write different types of questions (OQ/CQ).
O Identify and design different interview
schedules(SI/SSI/USI).
O Identify affective method which is available to the
different types of participants and their honesty.
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O Think about the kinds of the data.
O Numerical data from CQ can be analyzed mathematically.
O Data from OQ provides more in depth validate information.
O Example:
O CQ might not have a response close to persons’ view.
O OQ would allow that person to express views that they could not
do in the choices available in the closed question
O Reliability of self-report data is important.
O Responses to OQ have to interpret by the researcher.
O Questionnaires and structured interviews may be higher
reliability.
O Administered in a consistent way.
O Generate numerical results.

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