Term
| Name 3 types of self report |
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Definition
| Interview, survey, questionnaire |
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Term
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Definition
| A Self-report is a type of psychological assessment or test that a person completes independently. |
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Term
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Definition
| A scale from which a person allocates a numerical value to a feeling, attitude or opinion. Often the scale values are from 1 to 10. E.g. On a scale of 1 to 10 how useful dis you find your last lesson? 1=not at all useful, 10=extremely useful |
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Term
| What is an open question? |
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Definition
| A question that cannot be answered with a yes or no but requires a developed answer. This type of question encourages people to report on their feelings, thoughts, attitudes or opinions. |
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Term
| What is a strength of open questions? |
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Definition
| Open questions give more detail and insight into what people think and feel. This increases our understanding of why people think, feel and behave the way they do. This therefore increases the internal validity of the findings. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of open questions? |
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Definition
| Open questions provide qualitative data from each participant, this is worded uniquely for each participant which makes it difficult to compare responses from different participants. This reduces the reliability of the findings because it is difficult to check for consistency in the results. |
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Term
| What is a closed question? |
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Definition
| A closed question is a form of question, which normally can be answered with a simple "yes/no" or a specific simple piece of information, or with one choice from a selection. |
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Term
| What is a strength of closed questions? |
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Definition
| Closed questions provide quantitative data from each participant, this makes it easy to compare responses from different participants. This increases the reliability of the findings because it is possible to check the consistency of the results. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of closed questions? |
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Definition
| Closed questions do not give detail or insight into what people think and feel. This stops us from finding out why people think, feel and behave the way they do. This reduces the internal validity of the findings. |
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Term
| What sort of data is produced by closed questions? |
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Definition
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Term
| What sort of data is produced by open questions? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is an advantage of the self report method? |
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Definition
| We can measure cognitive variables such as memory, knowledge and attitudes, which either cannot be observed directly or tested in any biological test. (They allow us to find out what is going on in the mind of the participant. This increases our understanding of why people behave the way they do. |
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Term
| What is a disadvantage of the self report method? |
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Definition
| It is possible that the participants may lie in a self report. This could be so as to appear socially desirable, because they have evaluation apprehension or because they know the purpose of the self report and are being overly helpful (Hawthorne Effect) or particularly unhelpful (Screw You Effect. This reduces the validity of the findings. |
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Term
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Definition
| A scale that gives a statement and then asks the pp if they... strongly agree / agree/ neither / disagree / strongly diagree |
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Term
| What is a strength of a likert scale question? |
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Definition
| It allows qualitative information such as opinions and attitudes to be turned into quantitative data, because each category (e.g. agree/ strongly disagree) can be given a numerical value. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of a likert scale question? |
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Definition
| If 'neither' is included in the options and all pps choose this option then it leaves the researcher with no useful information. |
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Term
| What is a strength of a rating scale question? |
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Definition
| It allows qualitative information such as opinions and attitudes to be turned into quantitative data, increasing reliability because different pps' answers can be compared. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of a rating scale question? |
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Definition
| One person's 4 may be another person's 6. The ratings are subjective and not everyone rates behaviours/thoughts/ attitudes in the same way. This reduces the reliability of the results because the measuring tool is not being used in a consistent manner. |
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Term
| What is a semantic differential question? |
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Definition
| A question in which 2 words which have opposite meanings are presented with a certain number of dashes between them. pps have to tick on the dash that indicates their position on that scale. |
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Term
| What is a strength of semantic differential questions? |
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Definition
| It allows qualitative information such as opinions and attitudes to be turned into quantitative data, increasing reliability because different pps' answers can be compared. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of semantic differential questions? |
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Definition
| If there are lots of semantic differential questions pps may get into the habit of placing their ticks on the same dash for every question creating acquiescence response set. this lowers the validity of the findings as pps are not really thinking about their answers and so the researcher is not gaining access to their true opinions. |
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Term
| What is a forced choice question? |
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Definition
| It is a question which provides a set list of categories from which the answer must be chosen. |
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Term
| What is a strength of a forced choice question? |
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Definition
| Forced choice questions allow for comparison between the different pps' answers. this increases the reliability of the findings because it is possible to identify patterns and differences easily and then draw conclusions. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of a forced choice question? |
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Definition
| The answer the pp wants to give may not be included in the options made available. this means that the pp is forced to lie. this reduces the validity of the findings because the researcher is not getting the truth from the pp. |
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Term
| "I enjoy psychology: strongly agree / agree / neither / disagree / strongly disagree" is an example of what type of question? |
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Definition
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Term
| "Psychology is: interesting ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ dull" is an example of what type of question? |
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Definition
| A semantic differential question |
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Term
| "Do you like cheese?" is an example of what type of question? |
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Definition
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Term
| "I travel to school by: bus / train / plane" is an example of what type of question? |
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Definition
| A forced choice (multiple choice) question. |
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Term
| "Why do you think psychology is such a popular A level subject?" is an example of what type of question? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is it called when the pp stops reading the questions and just circles or ticks in the same place for every question? |
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Definition
| Acquiescence response set. this lowers validity. |
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Term
| How can you tell if someone is lying on your questionnaire? |
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Definition
| By including a lie scale question such as "I never regret anything I say: Yes/No" . Anyone who answers "yes" has lied on this question and has probably lied on other questions too. Their results should be ignored. |
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Term
| If I wanted to collect qualitative data what sort of question should I include in my self report? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is an unstructured interview? |
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Definition
| An interview in which there are no set questions. The interviewer will ask questions prompted by the answers given to previous questions. |
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Term
| What is a strength of an unstructured interview? |
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Definition
| The interviewer can pursue any line of questioning that will reveal the information that is wanted. this increases the validity because the interviewer will find out what they set out to find. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of an unstructured interview? |
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Definition
| Unstructured interviews are difficult to replicate and it is difficult to compare findings between pps interviews if they are unstructured. Both of these factors reduce the reliability of the interviews, because no consistency can be shown. |
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Term
| What is a structured interview? |
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Definition
| An interview in which there are a fixed set questions which the interviewer must stick to and ask all pps. |
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Term
| What is a strength of a structured interview? |
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Definition
| The reliability is high because the interview can be replicated with other pps and it is possible to try and compare the answers of different pps to look for similarities and trends, allowing the consistency of the data to be investigated. |
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Term
| What is a weakness of a structured interview? |
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Definition
| The interviewer cannot deviate from the fixed set of questions which means that even if they suspect the pp is not telling them something and might respond better to a different question they can't explore the topic in any other way. this reduces the validity of the data as the truth of the pps thoughts/feelings/attitudes may not be revealed. |
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Term
| What is a semi structured interview? |
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Definition
| An interview in which there is a basic set of standardised questions which can be used to strat the interview but as the interview progresses the interviewer can devise their own questions to try and get as much information out of the pp as possible. this means that they can adapt their questioning technique to the needs of the pp. This is likely to result in more truth being uncovered, increasing validity. |
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Term
| Which has greater internal validity? Structured / semi-structured or unstructured interviews? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which has good internal validity and good reliability? Structured / semi-structured or unstructured interviews? |
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Definition
| Semi-structured interviews |
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Term
| Which has greater reliability? Structured / semi-structured or unstructured interviews? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the strength of semi-structured interviews? |
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Definition
| The are high in reliability because it is possible to replicate them in part and also they are high in validity because they are more likely to uncover information than structured interviews. |
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Term
| Why is it a good idea to make questionnaires anonymous? |
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Definition
| So that pps are more likely to tell the truth, increasing the validity of the findings. |
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Term
| Why are pps more likely to tell the truth in an interview? |
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Definition
| Pps may find it hard to lie to another person face to face |
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Term
| Why might a pp be more likely to lie in an interview than on a questionnaire? |
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Definition
| Because they want to appear socially desirable to the person in front of them. |
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Term
| How might the gender of an interviewer affect the validity of the research? |
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Definition
| Pps might respond differently to someone of their own gender in an interview than they would to someone of the opposite gender. |
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Term
| How might the race of an interviewer affect the validity of the research? |
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Definition
| Pps might respond differently to someone of their own race in an interview than they would to someone of a different race. |
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Term
| How might the age of an interviewer affect the validity of the research? |
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Definition
| Pps might respond differently to someone of their own age in an interview than they would to someone from a different age group. |
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Term
| What effect would leading questions have on a pp's answers? |
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Definition
| They would reduce the validity of the answers because they answers would not be a true reflection of the pp's thoughts/feelings/attitudes. |
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Term
| List 3 ways in which a questionnaire could be conducted. |
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Definition
| Post, email, in person with the pp filling out their answers in front of the researcher, in person with the pp filling out their answers away from the researcher and then handing in their questionnaire anonymously afterwards. |
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Term
| How might a questionnaire be more advantageous than an interview? |
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Definition
| Researchers do not have to be trained to carry out questionnaires, whereas interviewing techniques need to be taught. |
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Term
| How might an interview be more advantageous than an questionnaire? |
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Definition
| Pps may be more likely to open up and reveal more information in conversation with another real person. |
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Term
| How might a questionnaire be more advantageous than an interview? |
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Definition
| An interviewer's expectations may influence the answers given by the pps, if they sense that the interviewer is after particular answers. |
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Term
| How might a questionnaire be more advantageous than an interview? |
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Definition
| Interviews are time consuming so it takes longer to get a large sample. Questionnaires are quick, cheap and easy so it is possible to get a large sample relatively easily. this makes findings from questionnaires more generalisable and higher in external validity |
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