Collecting Self-Report Data
Collecting Self-report Data
Collecting data is one of the major activities a researcher must do in order to look for the best possible answer of the problem he or she is researching. When we want to know something about a person, the most natural thing is to ask. Research methods that take the approach of asking the person directly are known as Self-report methods. Self-report is the most widely used data collection method by both qualitative and quantitative researchers. We can gather data using these methods either by conducting interviews or letting respondents fill-up a written questionnaire. Interviews (and, to a lesser extent, questionnaires) vary in their degree of structure, their length and complexity, and their administration. Self-report measures can be used to measure attitudes, liking for someone, judgments about someone’s personality characteristics, intended behaviors, emotional states, attributions about why someone performed well or poorly on a task, confidence in one’s judgments, and many other aspects of human thought and behavior. In this topic, we shall explore the various techniques in doing self-report data both in Qualitative and Quantitative techniques.
Qualitative Self-Report techniques Qualitative self-report techniques usually involve unstructured or loosely structured methods to provide the narrative data needed for qualitative analysis. By using these methods, qualitative researchers mostly start with some general questions or topics so that the respondents can answer them in a narrative fashion. During these interviews, the researcher and respondent usually tend to be conversational.
Unstructured interviews urges the respondents or informants to explain the important details of a phenomenon and to elaborate on it, reasoning out what is important to them, rather than be lead upon by the investigators’ a priori notions of relevance. Unstructured interviews are used by researchers in qualitative traditions. There are several
Collecting data is one of the major activities a researcher must do in order to look for the best possible answer of the problem he or she is researching. When we want to know something about a person, the most natural thing is to ask. Research methods that take the approach of asking the person directly are known as Self-report methods. Self-report is the most widely used data collection method by both qualitative and quantitative researchers. We can gather data using these methods either by conducting interviews or letting respondents fill-up a written questionnaire. Interviews (and, to a lesser extent, questionnaires) vary in their degree of structure, their length and complexity, and their administration. Self-report measures can be used to measure attitudes, liking for someone, judgments about someone’s personality characteristics, intended behaviors, emotional states, attributions about why someone performed well or poorly on a task, confidence in one’s judgments, and many other aspects of human thought and behavior. In this topic, we shall explore the various techniques in doing self-report data both in Qualitative and Quantitative techniques.
Qualitative Self-Report techniques Qualitative self-report techniques usually involve unstructured or loosely structured methods to provide the narrative data needed for qualitative analysis. By using these methods, qualitative researchers mostly start with some general questions or topics so that the respondents can answer them in a narrative fashion. During these interviews, the researcher and respondent usually tend to be conversational.
Unstructured interviews urges the respondents or informants to explain the important details of a phenomenon and to elaborate on it, reasoning out what is important to them, rather than be lead upon by the investigators’ a priori notions of relevance. Unstructured interviews are used by researchers in qualitative traditions. There are several
References: Polit, Denise F. & Beck, Cheryl Tatano (2004), Nursing Research; Principles and Methods, 7th Edition, Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Cozby, Paul (2001), Methods in Behavioral Research, 6th Edition, California, Mayfield Publishing Company Niewswiadomy, Rose Marie(2004), Foundations of Research, 4th Edition, Philippines, Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd.