Interview methods – asking people direct questions Self-report methods; Structured interviews; Effects of interpersonal variables in interviews; Types of interview; Semi-structured or open interviewing – gathering qualitative data; Recording the interview; Surveys

Introduction – self-report methods So far we have seen that psychologists can gather data by setting up experiments to see what people do under different conditions, or they can use observation techniques to record segments of behaviour in more or less natural circumstances. Perhaps the reader has asked by now ‘Why don’t psychologists just go and ask people directly about themselves?’ There are in fact many ways in which psychology researchers ask questions of individuals. They can and often do this after carrying out experiments. The interviews conducted by Asch (1956) and Milgram (1974) after their celebrated demonstrations of seemingly bizarre human behaviour give some of the most revealing, fascinating and rich data one can imagine and certainly formed the springboard for a huge volume of further illuminating and productive research.