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Typically, a self-report design is used in psychology research when researchers want to get data from many participants in a short amount of time. When conducting research, relying on a researcher's interpretation of the participant's behaviour and the reasoning behind their behaviour is not always best. This can be subject to several issues; the researcher may miss something or misinterpret an action completely.
A self-report design is a data collection method that relies on participants giving answers about themselves. The questions are usually pre-set.
This means that the experimenter does not interfere with the participants during the experiment, i.e. they are a non-experimental design.
Self-report designs, freepik.com/pch.vector
Self-report designs are used in psychology research for:
An example research scenario that uses both an experimental design and a self-report design may be investigating differences in brain structures in people having depression and those not suffering from it. The research design may include measuring differences in brain structures using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; experimental design). Furthermore, psychometric tests such as Beck's Depression Intervention may be used to measure depression.
Beck's Depression Inventory is a self-report questionnaire example.
Questionnaires and interviews typically rely on self-report for data collection. However, they can vary in the collection methods, which also affects the type of data being collected.
The type of questions included in questionnaires depends on what type of data the researcher wishes to collect.
Close-ended questions are used when the researcher wants to collect quantitative data. On the other hand, open-ended questions are used when the researcher wants to collect qualitative data.
Here are a few examples of different types of questions used in questionnaires:
Which of the following best describes your current status?
Another example of close-ended questions is the Likert scale.
The Likert scale is a psychometric rating scale used to measure variables. The answers are predefined, and it is often used to measure how much a person agrees or disagrees with a sentiment or statement.
All swans are white.
Describe how you feel after you have finished an assignment?
Grading scale, freepik.com/storyset
There are different types of interviews. Therefore, the type of interview used determines if the researcher will use a self-report design.
The types of interviews used in psychology research are:
1. Structured interview
Before the interview, the researcher decides what questions will be asked (predetermined) and asks all participants the same questions in the same order (this is called a standardised procedure, increasing the internal reliability of research designs). The questions are typically close-ended. It is not like a natural conversation.
Structured interviews have a self-report design.
2. Semi-structured interview
A few of the questions asked in this type of interview are predetermined. The researcher can spontaneously ask questions based on previous responses participants have given. This interview usually uses open- and close-ended questions. It combines the benefits of a structured and unstructured interview.
Parts of semi-structured interviews have a self-report design.
3. Unstructured interview
The questions are not pre-set in unstructured interviews. This type of interview is more like a conversation between the researcher and the participant, who mostly leads the discussion. The researcher may intervene or re-direct the conversation if it is going off-topic. This is somewhat unreliable as it cannot be adequately repeated, but it is more natural and allows full exploration of interesting tangents.
Unstructured interviews are not a self-report design.
Interview between two people, freepik.com/pch.vector
Researchers may use diaries as a data collection method. This is also a form of a self-report design because it relies on participants reporting their thoughts, feelings and activities.
The use of diaries in psychology research may rely on using previous entries, or participants may be asked to make diary entries throughout an experiment.
In this hypothetical research scenario, participants with depression were divided into two groups. Group 1 received the typical cognitive behavioural intervention, and Group 2 received a refined form of cognitive behavioural therapy.
Participants were asked to keep a diary throughout and three weeks after the experiment. This was to identify if participants' attitudes and symptoms changed after the intervention by exploring their innermost thoughts and feelings based on their private answers.
Similar to other research designs used in psychology, there are strengths and limitations to using self-report designs in research. The researcher needs to consider these and ensure they will not lead to invalid or unreliable findings. Additionally, the researcher must ensure that a self-report design is the most appropriate research design to explore the phenomena of interest.
The strengths of self-report designs are:
In terms of questionnaires, responses can be collected over the phone, online, or via mail. So it is easier to collect data from different people (different locations, ethnicities, professions). This means that the study's findings are likely representative and generalisable.
The weaknesses of self-report design are:
A self-report design is a data collection method that relies on participants giving answers about themselves. The questions are usually pre-set.
A self-report design can be qualitative or quantitative. It depends on the type of question (open- versus close-ended questions).
An example of a self-report measure is questionnaires.
The advantages of self-report studies are:
A self-report design is a non-experimental design.
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