Definition
Self-report measures ask respondents to report their own behaviors, beliefs/attitudes, symptoms, and personality characteristics in an interview, survey, questionnaire, or poll. Question formats can be open-ended, fixed, or hybrid and include Likert scales, true-false, and fixed choice questions, which are often used to measure demographic information and latent theoretical constructs, e.g., self-control, delinquency, peers, amenability to treatment, subjective well-being, self-esteem, and quality of life in a variety of domains. Self-report methodologies can be categorized under three general domains: theory guided, factor analytic, and criterion key. Specifically, self-report inventories used to measure crime and delinquency are concerned with reliably and accurately recording a respondent’s delinquent and criminal behavior, as well as attitudes toward these behaviors.
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Baldwin, J.M., Krohn, M.D., Gibson, C.L. (2014). Self-Report Measures of Crime and Delinquency. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_4077
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