E4 Materials

Describe the final questionnaire and, if you have not done so in a separate section, its development (if any). Work through the questionnaire in sequence. If there are variations of this sequence (for example, to control for order effects or to manipulate IVs) describe one of the basic versions and then clearly describe how the other versions departed from this. (For more on controlling for order effects, see Sections 10.4.3 and 13.1.2 of the book.) Remember that the ideal is that someone should be able to recreate your questionnaire using your description of it here. Put at least one version in an appendix, perhaps all of them if this will not make the report too bulky. (For more on when and how to use appendices in reports see Section 7.6 of the book.)

Describe the precise wording of any key DVs. Make clear what the response scale was: For example, “a 7- point, Likert scale, with labelled end points of 1 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree).” Questions that your reader might have in mind include:

Did you provide a verbal label for each point on the scale, or only the extremes?
Were the rating scales unipolar or bipolar?
Was there a midpoint and if so how was it labelled?

Provide the answers to these questions here, in the MATERIALS.

A unipolar scale runs from an absence of something to a great deal of it. For example, 1 (not at all controllable) to 10 (extremely controllable). A bipolar scale runs from a lot of something to a lot of its opposite. For example, -3 (extremely boring) to +3 (extremely interesting). Bipolar scales therefore often have a neutral midpoint, which is typically labeled too. In this example it might read neither or even neither boring nor interesting.

However, use your intelligence and discretion here. Once you have described a particular type of question, it may be possible to describe the other questions of this type succinctly; Always look for ways of being concise. For example: “The likelihood measure used to rate each event was a 10-point scale with end points labelled 1 (extremely unlikely) and 10 (extremely likely). The controllable events were ...” and so on. There is enough information here for someone to reconstruct this part of the questionnaire. I did not need to laboriously describe each event and each rating scale.

As ever, you should describe any key instructions - such as ones you used to manipulate an IV - verbatim (i.e., using the exact words written or said). However, you can usually manage by just giving the gist of any less important instructions. If you are in doubt (and if your word limit allows) err on the side of caution, by citing the precise wording. However, do not use this as an excuse for being lazy (see below). Describe here any controls for order effects, such as the counterbalancing of different questions or sections of the questionnaire. (For more on counterbalancing, see Section 10.4.3 of the book)

Above all, do not be lazy! This section requires thought and effort. It should provide an accurate and sufficiently detailed account of the questionnaire you used, with reports of the precise wording at key places, suitable use of illustrative examples, and the gist of the less important parts. It is not, however, simply a copy of the questionnaire dumped into the body of the report. If you do that, out will come the dreaded red pen and your mark will suffer accordingly.

Using published scales

If you use a scale or other measure that has been published elsewhere, then you do not need to describe it in full. Reference the source for the version or edition of the measure you used. Describe one or two typical items for each subscale that you are using in your report, together with the total number of items on that subscale or factor. Report the response scale (as described above). If you know the information, you might also refer to published reliability and validity statistics for the scale and any subscales. You should also make sure that you are able to use the scale without getting or paying for permission first. (Not all scales are freely available for use. It may be, however, that your department or school has obtained the necessary permission for certain scales to be used. You should check this.) This can be a particular problem with scales that you have downloaded from the Internet but not from the original author’s website, so watch out for this.