Obtaining data by asking people questions and recording their answers

A standardised set of question is given to each respondent; they give their answers in writing

Gets you lots of data quickly and gives you an insight into people’s views, opinions and attitudes

But only if they answer accurately

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Unstructured Structured Semi-structured

Unstructured interviews are useful for investigating something that hasn’t been well studied before

They have open questions that can only be analysed qualitatively

They allow psychologists to discover themes that might not be immediately apparent when starting the investigation

Structured interviews involve all participants being asked the same questions in the same order

They have fixed, pre-determined questions

This usually generates quantitative data

These ask the same questions of each participant. They are more open, allowing participants to expand on their answer and ‘go off at a tangent’ if a particular question sparks their interest

Questionnaires can be both structured and unstructured but tend to lend themselves to being highly structured

We tend to use questionnaire when we want quantitative data &

Interview when we want qualitative data

You can however, gather both qualitative & quantitative data by both methods

Social desirability bias – people give answers that make them ‘sound good’ rather than what they actually think

Honesty – people lie! It’s impossible to control for personal

interpretations of the questions

Decide which attitudes, behaviours or traits you want to measure

Decide whether you want qualitative or quantitative data

Decide which sorts of questions you will ask

Pilot and modify the questionnaire Collect data

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Qualitative data Rich in detail or description, usually in

textual or narrative form Quantitative data

Numerical data, measurements of quantity or amount w

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Qualitative Rich in detail Allows for in-depth

analysis BUT Difficult to analyse Difficult to compare

people or groups

Quantitative Easier to analyse

(e.g. statistically) Easier to compare

people or groups BUT Undetailed and

potentially superficial

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Open questions Allow respondents to answer however they

want Generate qualitative data

Closed questions Restrict respondent to a predetermined set of

responses Generate quantitative data

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Straightforward response Are you female or male? M F What is your age in years? ____ years Do you smoke? Yes No

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Checklist What is the highest academic qualification you

hold? GCSEs A – Levels Batchelor Degree Post-graduate Degree

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Adjectival/adverbial response Does your anxiety affect your ability to do

the following things?

Not at allNot at all A BitA Bit Very Very muchmuch

Go to Go to workwork

Meet Meet friendsfriends

Go Go shoppinshoppingg

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Numerical (Likert) response scale Psychology is the most interesting A-Level

subject11 22 33 44 55

Strongly Strongly agreeagree AgreeAgree Not sureNot sure DisagreeDisagree Strongly Strongly

DisagreeDisagree

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Ranking scale Rank the following activities according to how

much time you spend on them each day (1 = most time, 4 = least time) Talking face to face Talking on the telephone Text messaging Other (e.g. MSN, IRC chat)

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Keep it simple & clear Keep it as short as possible Keep it relevant to purpose Collect personal information last Ask for one piece of information at a time Allow for ‘don’t know’ where appropriate Be sensitive

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Test Questionnaire with a group of

PPs

Obtain feedback from them

Identify issues with the q’aire

Alter the problem q’aire items

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Write your answers on your mini whiteboards

1. What is social desirability bias?

2. What is qualitative data?

3. What sort of questions does a structured interview have?

4. What sort of data do you get from unstructured interview?

5. Give an example of a Likert scale

You need to write a question and provide a scale

Give an example of a fixed choice (closed)question

Give an example of an open ended question