Self-Report Measures

Measured variables where respondents are free to list their thoughts or feelings are known as free-format self-report measures. Measured variables where respondents are free to indicate their thoughts or feelings to questions are known as fixed-format self-report measures. The main difference between the two is free-format allows a person to list them as they come to mind and in fixed-format, a respondent selects from a list (Stangor, 2013).

Although the free-format self-report measures produce a richer set of data, it is difficult and time-consuming to code the data into measured variables (Stangor, 2013). More than likely, each individual would have different thoughts and that would make it hard to compare individuals. It would possibly be better for each person to describe his or her thoughts. This way the measures could be used as qualitative data. A good example of a free-format self-report measure is an inkblot test, where respondents give feedback on an image that’s presented to them.

Fixed-format self-reporting measures presents a lot more structure partly due to how difficult it is to code free-format responses (Stangor, 2013). We could take something as simple as having a list of items that list out how a person identifies himself or herself based on a particular country. Therefore, listing out American, German, Chinese, Mexican, Canadian, etc. would be a lot easier. Also, unlike free-format self-report measures, it is easier to quantify data for analysis. A Likert-scale is also another example of a fixed-format self-reporting measure, which lists a series of items and allows responds to select their response by way of a scale (Stangor, 2013).


Free-format advantages	Fixed-format advantages
Respondents are free to indicate feelings that have about a topic and thereby provides a richer set of data.	Researchers can control items.
Researchers can ask open ended questions which have no set answers.	A researcher can ask many questions in a short amount of time
It is non-reactive and people can respond without any restraints	It’s easier to administer and construct. There’s no need to filter through many different answers.

I would use a free-format self-report study in a race and ethnicity study, much like the census. One of the issues that we currently have in today’s census is that everyone is grouped into specific races when the reality is much more complicated than that (Morning, 2008). Everyone from China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, etc. does not categorize themselves as Asian. This is the same as people of mixed heritage in the United States. A lot of people do not simply consider themselves to be Black or White. There are also those, such as some Pakistanis and Arabs, who consider themselves White because there are not better options for them to choose (Ajrouch & Jamal, 2007). Even though that is the case on a large scale, on a smaller scale, such as college campuses, this would be able to greatly show the diversity among students.

A study such as this, I would use an associative list. An associative list allows a person to name a word that comes to mind when a stimulus is presented to them. Typically, a person already knows what they refer to himself or herself as. Since a respondent is not describing or reacting to an image or solving a problem by talking out their thoughts, this would be the better measure.

References

Ajrouch, K. J., & Jamal, A. (2007). Assimilating to a white identity: The case of Arab Americans. International Migration Review, 41(4), 860–879. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00103.x ↩
Morning, A. (2008). Ethnic classification in global perspective: A cross-national survey of the 2000 census round. Population Research and Policy Review, 27(2), 239–272. doi:10.1007/s11113-007-9062-5 ↩
Stangor, C. (2013). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences (4 ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3 ↩4