Relatore: Professor Bruno OSIMO - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni ...

predefined answers from which one or more is selected (Someren, Barnard
and Sandberg 1994).
A final class of methods involves unstructured verbal reports of problem
solving, which can be obtained in different ways.
2. 1. DIFFERENT VERBALIZING PROCEDURES
“It is assumed that those mental activities which are dealt with in
working memory (i.e. which are to some degree conscious) can be verbalized"
(Jääskeläinen 1999: 62).
According to Ericsson and Simon (1984) a distinction should be made
between various kinds of verbal report procedures (or introspective methods),
and particularly between classical introspective reports, retrospective
responses to specific probes and think-aloud protocols. This distinction is
crucial in determining the reliability and the validity of these methods of data
collection (Jääskeläinen 1999).
2. 1. 1. INTROSPECTION
Classic introspection consists in instructing the subject to report his
thoughts at intermediate points of the problem-solving task, which are chosen
by him. As used by psychologists in the 1920s and 1930s, researchers also ask
the subject to give an accurate, complete and coherent report on his cognitive
processes. As a result, introspective reports involve the use of psychological
terminology and interpretation by the subject; for this reason, they are also
more subject to memory errors and misinterpretations than other methods
(Someren, Barnard and Sandberg 1994).
The problem involved is that “the informant is also expected to act as the
analyst/researcher. Consequently, both the data and the analysis are
subjective” (Jääskeläinen 1999: 63); there is no objectivity in the sense of the
object of research being independent of the researcher.
2. 1. 2. RETROSPECTION
In retrospective responses to specific probes subjects are invited to
perform a task and afterwards they are asked questions about their behavior
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