measuresselfreport

Self-report measures are instruments in which respondents provide information about their own thoughts, feelings, behaviors, or characteristics. They are widely used in psychology, health, education, and social sciences to assess subjective states such as mood or pain, as well as behaviors like smoking, sleep patterns, or adherence to treatment.

Formats include Likert-type scales (for example 1 to 5 or 1 to 7), semantic differential scales, frequency scales, and single-item or multi-item questionnaires. They can be administered on paper, online, by telephone, or in person, and multi-item scales are often scored to yield a composite index of a broader construct.

Psychometric properties are central to self-report measures. Reliability refers to consistency, including internal consistency and test-retest stability. Validity covers content, construct, and criterion-related validity. Researchers must consider biases such as social desirability, recall errors, and acquiescence, as well as language clarity and cultural relevance.

Advantages include efficiency, scalability, and direct access to subjective experience. Limitations include susceptibility to bias, measurement error, and sometimes divergence from objective behavior. Best practices involve using validated instruments when possible, pretesting wording, ensuring anonymity, providing clear response options, and reporting missing data and handling procedures. Triangulation with objective data can strengthen conclusions.

Notable applications include mental health screening (PHQ-9, GAD-7), quality-of-life assessments (SF-36, EQ-5D), and behavior inventories. Ethical considerations include informed consent and avoiding harm when soliciting sensitive information.