Self-reports: How the questions shape the answers.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the underlying cognitive and communicative processes underlying self-reports, focusing on issues of question comprehension, behavioral frequency reports, and the emergence of context effects in attitude measurement.
Abstract: Self-reports of behaviors and attitudes are strongly influenced by features of the research instrument, including question wording, format, and context. Recent research has addressed the underlying cognitive and communicative processes, which are systematic and increasingly wellunderstood. I review what has been learned, focusing on issues of question comprehension, behavioral frequency reports, and the emergence of context effects in attitude measurement. The accumulating knowledge about the processes underlying self-reports promises to improve questionnaire design and data quality.
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TL;DR: The authors operationalize saturation and make evidence-based recommendations regarding nonprobabilistic sample sizes for interviews and found that saturation occurred within the first twelve interviews, although basic elements for metathemes were present as early as six interviews.
Abstract: Guidelines for determining nonprobabilistic sample sizes are virtually nonexistent. Purposive samples are the most commonly used form of nonprobabilistic sampling, and their size typically relies on the concept of “saturation,” or the point at which no new information or themes are observed in the data. Although the idea of saturation is helpful at the conceptual level, it provides little practical guidance for estimating sample sizes, prior to data collection, necessary for conducting quality research. Using data from a study involving sixty in-depth interviews with women in two West African countries, the authors systematically document the degree of data saturation and variability over the course of thematic analysis. They operationalize saturation and make evidence-based recommendations regarding nonprobabilistic sample sizes for interviews. Based on the data set, they found that saturation occurred within the first twelve interviews, although basic elements for metathemes were present as early as six...
12,951 citations
Cites background from "Self-reports: How the questions sha..."
...Self-reports are the most commonly used measure of sexual behavior in the health sciences, and yet concern has been raised about the accuracy of these measures (Brody 1995; Zenilman et al. 1995; Weinhardt et al. 1998; Schwarz 1999; Weir et al. 1999; Crosby et al. 2002)....
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Book•
01 Jul 2002TL;DR: In this article, a review is presented of the book "Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment, edited by Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, and Daniel Kahneman".
Abstract: A review is presented of the book “Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment,” edited by Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, and Daniel Kahneman.
3,642 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the use of a common conceptual framework would elevate the quality of professional development studies and subsequently the general understanding of how best to shape and implement teacher learning opportunities for the maximum benefit of both teachers and students.
Abstract: The author suggests that we apply recent research knowledge to improve our conceptualization, measures, and methodology for studying the effects of teachers’ professional development on teachers and students. She makes the case that there is a research consensus to support the use of a set of core features and a common conceptual framework in professional development impact studies. She urges us to move away from automatic biases either for or against observation, interviews, or surveys in such studies. She argues that the use of a common conceptual framework would elevate the quality of professional development studies and subsequently the general understanding of how best to shape and implement teacher learning opportunities for the maximum benefit of both teachers and students.
3,464 citations
Cites background from "Self-reports: How the questions sha..."
...biguate the meaning of the questions posed to them (Schwartz, 1999)....
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...(Fowler, 2002; Schwartz, 1999; Sudman, Bradburn, & Schwarz, 1996);...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the implica- tions of individual differences in performance for each of the four explanations of the normative/descriptive gap, including performance errors, computational limitations, the wrong norm being applied by the experi- menter, and a different construal of the task by the subject.
Abstract: Much research in the last two decades has demon- strated that human responses deviate from the performance deemed normative according to various models of decision mak- ing and rational judgment (e.g., the basic axioms of utility theory). This gap between the normative and the descriptive can be inter- preted as indicating systematic irrationalities in human cognition. However, four alternative interpretations preserve the assumption that human behavior and cognition is largely rational. These posit that the gap is due to (1) performance errors, (2) computational limitations, (3) the wrong norm being applied by the experi- menter, and (4) a different construal of the task by the subject. In the debates about the viability of these alternative explanations, attention has been focused too narrowly on the modal response. In a series of experiments involving most of the classic tasks in the heuristics and biases literature, we have examined the implica- tions of individual differences in performance for each of the four explanations of the normative/descriptive gap. Performance er- rors are a minor factor in the gap; computational limitations un- derlie non-normative responding on several tasks, particularly those that involve some type of cognitive decontextualization. Un- expected patterns of covariance can suggest when the wrong norm is being applied to a task or when an alternative construal of the task should be considered appropriate.
3,068 citations
References
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Book•
08 Oct 2014
TL;DR: Anderson as mentioned in this paper constructs a coherent picture of human cognition, relating neural functions to mental processes, perception to abstraction, representation to meaning, knowledge to skill, language to thought, and adult cognition to child development.
Abstract: A fully updated, systematic introduction to the theoretical and experimental foundations of higher mental processes. Avoiding technical jargon, John R. Anderson constructs a coherent picture of human cognition, relating neural functions to mental processes, perception to abstraction, representation to meaning, knowledge to skill, language to thought, and adult cognition to child development.
5,315 citations
"Self-reports: How the questions sha..." refers background in this paper
...Comprehending the literal meaning of a sentence involves the identification of words, the recall of lexical information from semantic memory, and the construction of a meaning of the utterance, which is constrained by its context (Anderson, 1980)....
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Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: Forster, Liberman, and Shafir, Decisions Constructed Locally: Some Fundamental Principles of the Psychology of Decision Making as mentioned in this paper, and Shaver, Mikulincer, Attachment theory and research: Core Concepts, Basic Principles, Conceptual Bridges.
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3,266 citations
"Self-reports: How the questions sha..." refers background in this paper
...As numerous studies in social cognition have shown (see Bodenhausen & Wyer, 1987; Higgins, 1996; Schwarz, 1995, for reviews), individuals do not retrieve all knowledge that may potentially bear on the target....
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01 Mar 1999
3,234 citations
"Self-reports: How the questions sha..." refers background in this paper
...These tacit assumptions were described by Paul Grice (1975), a philosopher of language (see Levinson, 1983, for a detailed introduction)....
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TL;DR: In this article, a theory of norms and normality is presented and applied to some phenomena of emotional responses, social judgment, and conversations about causes, such as emotional response to events that have abnormal causes, the generation of predictions and inferences from observations of behavior and the role of norms in causal questions and answers.
Abstract: A theory of norms and normality is presented and applied to some phenomena of emotional responses, social judgment, and conversations about causes. Norms are assumed to be constructed ad hoc by recruiting specific representations. Category norms are derived by recruiting exemplars. Specific objects or events generate their own norms by retrieval of similar experiences stored in memory or by construction of counterfactual alternatives. The normality of a stimulus is evaluated by comparing it to the norms that it evokes after the fact, rather than to precomputed expectations. Norm theory is applied in analyses of the enhanced emotional response to events that have abnormal causes, of the generation of predictions and inferences from observations of behavior, and of the role of norms in causal questions and answers. This article is concerned with category norms that represent knowledge of concepts and with stimulus norms that govern comparative judgments and designate experiences as surprising. In the tradition of adaptation level theory (Appley, 1971; Helson, 1964), the concept of norm is applied to events that range in complexity from single visual displays to social interactions. We first propose a model of an activation process that produces norms, then explore the role of norms in social cognition. The central idea of the present treatment is that norms are computed after the event rather than in advance. We sketch a supplement to the generally accepted idea that events in the stream of experience are interpreted and evaluated by consulting precomputed schemas and frames of reference. The view developed here is that each stimulus selectively recruits its own alternatives (Garner, 1962, 1970) and is interpreted in a rich context of remembered and constructed representations of what it could have been, might have been, or should have been. Thus, each event brings its own frame of reference into being. We also explore the idea that knowledge of categories (e.g., "encounters with Jim") can be derived on-line by selectively evoking stored representations of discrete episodes and exemplars. The present model assumes that a number of representations can be recruited in parallel, by either a stimulus event or an
2,910 citations
"Self-reports: How the questions sha..." refers background in this paper
...Much as the mental representation of the target, the mental representation of a relevant standard is formed on the spot and is based on chronically or temporarily accessible information that happens to come to mind (see Kahneman & Miller, 1986; Schwarz & Bless, 1992a)....
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