 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

 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

 Qualitative data  Rich in detail or description, usually in textual or narrative form  Quantitative data  Numerical data, measurements of quantity or amount

 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

 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

 Straightforward response  Are you female or male? MF  What is your age in years? ____ years  Do you smoke? YesNo

 Checklist  What is the highest academic qualification you hold?  GCSEs  A – Levels  Batchelor Degree  Post-graduate Degree

 Adjectival/adverbial response  Does your anxiety affect your ability to do the following things? Not at all A Bit Very much Go to work Meet friends Go shopping

 Numerical (Likert) response scale  Psychology is the most interesting A-Level subject12345 Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly Disagree

 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)

 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

Test Questionnaire with a group of PPs Obtain feedback from them Identify issues with the q’aire Alter the problem q’aire items

 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