Introspective and Retrospective Methods: Definitions, Advantages and

Disadvantages

Introspection is the process of examining your own feelings and thoughts. It is

a data collection method that draws heavily on one's self-reflection and has no
relevance with the external observation. Introspective methods were first applied in
cognitive psychology by Erricson & Simon (1980) to obtain data on the way humans
cognitively process information. Nunan (1992) defines introspection as ''the process
of observing and reflecting one's thoughts, feelings, motives, reasoning processes, and
mental states with a view to determining the way in which these processes and states
determine our behaviour'' (p. 115). Cherry (2018) points out that ''the term
introspection can be used to describe both an informal reflection process and a more
formalized experimental approach that was used early on in psychology's history''.
However, there are many methods that come under introspection. The chief among
them are think-aloud protocol and diary study.
Think-aloud protocol, one of introspective methods, is a data collection
method used in qualitative research. It is a research method in which a researcher asks
participants to verbalize their thoughts, feelings, and opinions while they are doing a
certain task. Mackey and Gass (2005) point out that the role of think-aloud protocol is
to involve students in doing some tasks or problem solving activities and ask them to
tell what is going in their minds while performing the tasks. However, while doing
such problem activities, every student will use his own strategies to solve a problem;
everyone will surely use a different way of manipulating it but often come to the end
with the same solution. Nunan (1992) states that a researcher can gather a think aloud
protocol by audio-recording it in order to be analyzed later for the thinking strategies.
Think-aloud protocol helps researchers to obtain first-hand data spontaneously, in a
short term memory. Cherry (2018) points out that the reflection of our thoughts,
feelings, and memories as well as examining them means that we are involved in
introspection.
Diary study is defined by Baily (1990) as ''a first person account of language
learning or experience, documented in a regular candid entries in a personal journal
and analyzed for a recurrent pattern and salient events'' (cited in Nunan, 1992, p. 120).
Mackey and Gass (2005) explain that diary studies enable participants to write about
their own language learning experiences. Participants often write about their
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experiences freely and peacefully because they are not constrained by questions;
rather, their ability to record their perceptions about learning a language without
constraint of predetermined areas of interest. However, the introspection method has
advantages and disadvantages. First, let us consider the advantages.
Introspection method is an easy method that provide researchers with direct
observation of mental process which cannot be observed by other scientific methods.
Think aloud protocol, for example, is a useful method that can help researchers to get
access to some hidden information that cannot be observable. Researchers are
provided with personal information from participants about the way they think and
process certain activities. They can provide researchers with an access and data that
can be unattainable by other methods.
Porter et al. (1990) states some advantages of diary studies. He points out that
diary studies help learners to reveal critical problems obstructing their learning to
their teachers in order to solve them. Another feature of diary studies is that they
promote autonomous learning in which students become the centre of the learning
process; i.e., to be responsible for their own learning. Diary studies increase students
self-confidence as they exchange information and discuss ideas with their teachers.
Further, diary studies can lead to more productive class discussion. They can also
create an interactive environment between student-teacher and student-student beyond
classroom (cited in Nunan, 1992). Finally, diaries are longitudinal in which they can
be conducted in intermittent time; i.e., they highlight students' perceptions of their
language learning progresses over time, this week and the next. They are not the same
as other methods such as: questionnaires and interviews that require a scheduled time
for their administrations. In spite of some advantages, introspection methods have
also some disadvantages.
The disadvantages of introspective methods are that the results are always
subjective. Introspection has been criticized that it lacks the scientific reliability and
objectivity. Other scientists are not able to verify the verbal reports of participants.
Another disadvantage is the limited applicability of introspection method.
Introspection cannot be applied to the mental activities of animals, insane, children
and people with language disabilities. What has been explained above was regarding
introspective methods; their definitions, advantages and disadvantages. Another
method that is also used in qualitative research is retrospection method.

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 Retrospection is also a data collection method in which researchers use to
collect after a certain activity has taken place. Participants are asked to recall how
they were thinking and feeling while they were doing a particular activity. In
retrospection, a participant is asked to give a report about his mental process after the
mental activity ends. Doing an activity under supervision of teacher/researcher might
cause anger and fear to participants. However, participants are required to give reports
about their experiences after the anger and fear end. A researcher asks participants to
remember and state how they were feeling and thinking while they were performing a
certain task. There are two types of retrospective methods: stimulated recall and
immediate recall.
Stimulated recall is a type of retrospective methods. By this tool, a researcher
uses a stimulus as audio or video tapes in doing the activities. As its name suggests, a
stimulated recall method enables a researcher to get learners' perspectives about their
own learning. Mackey and Gass (2005) point out that a stimulated recall is led by a
researcher by using a stimulus; i.e., video-record or audio-record about a particular
lesson, and when the time of class is over, the researcher plays the record
intermittently and asks participants to state how they were thinking at that particular
time.
With respect to immediate recall, it is a similar method to a stimulated recall
in which participants are given a stimulus as a tape immediately after the event has
taken place. The difference between a stimulated recall and immediate recall is that
immediate recall occurs directly after the completion of the task while a stimulated
recall may or may occur after the accomplishment of the task. Another difference is
that in immediate recall there is no need for a stimulus to talk from such as video or
audio tapes. In immediate recall, there will be fewer problems of memory decay as the
activity occurs instantly after an event has taken place.
One of the advantages of retrospection (stimulated recall) is that the
participants are motivated to remember the processes of doing an activity by a
stimulus such as a video or an audio tape, or provided with a written material, that
help them to recollect how did they do an activity.
The major shortcoming of retrospective methods is the gap of time.
Participants have to report their feelings and thoughts of performing tasks after an
event has taken place which may lead to unreliable data. Stimulated recall often
results in memory lapses. Ericsson and Simon (1993) stated that ''once information
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enters the long-term memory, subjects may incorrectly describe the processes they
actually used'' (cited in Johnstone et al. (2006), p. 2). Further, video-recording
sometimes lead to anxiety on the parts of the examinees; participants will get anxious
being under surveillance.

Bibliography

 Cherry, K. (2018). A Look at Introspection: Wundt's Experimental

Technique. Retrieved from: https://www.verywellmind.com/
what-is-introspection-2795252
 https://www.niar.wichita.edu/humanfactors/toolbox/T_A%20Protocol.
htm

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  http://www.preservearticles.com/201101283753/what-are-the-
advantages-and-disadvantages-of-introspection-method-of-psychology.html
 Johnstone, C. J., Bottsford-Miller, N. A., & Thompson, S. J. (2006).
Using the Think Aloud Method (Cognitive Labs) to Evaluate Test Design for Students
with Disabilities and English Language Learners. Technical Report 44. National
Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota.
 Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2015). Second language research:
methodology and design. Routledge.
 Nunan, D. (1992). Research methods in language learning.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.