Sedighi and Loosemore’s article on Employer of Choice (EOC) characteristics in the construction industry is based on the background of the increased difficulty employers are having recruiting and retaining graduates due to the ageing population, skill shortages and the increase in inter-sector labour competition (Sedighi & Loosemore, 2012).
The aim of the paper was therefore to identify what workplace characteristics construction management graduates preferred and valued the highest and as a result understand what constitutes an EOC in the eyes of a graduate in terms of recruitment and retention.
The method of research used by Sedighi and Loosemore in this article was an electronic survey which required the participants to rate 26 EOC criteria on a seven point ordinal Likert scale ranging from unimportant through neutral to important. Participants were also asked to answer five independent questions including gender, work experience, workplace size, type of course and year of study. The process of conducting the electronic survey was accomplished by contacting 76 heads of programmes throughout Australia and the United Kingdom who then distributed the survey to over 400 students resulting in 160 student responses from 26 universities.
Although the use of an electronic survey strategy is far from original, it is an extremely effective strategy when wanting to conduct research across a broad geographical range such as universities across Australia and the United Kingdom. The main contribution of the research conducted by Sedighi and Loosemore is the identification of the most important workplace characteristics for graduate construction management students, the top three being; good quality of work relationships, being able to learn on the job and a workplace that is passionate about work. 2.
The Term Paper on Workplace bullying 3
Introduction & Thesis Research on workplace bullying began in the late 1980’s. The field has since evolved, including articles, blogs, and books on the subject. According to the 2014 WBI US Workplace Bullying Survey, 27% of Americans have been targets of workplace bullying; an additional 21% have been witness to the bullying; and a total of 72% are aware that workplace bullying occurs. ( ...
To explore and identify the EOC characteristic preferences of construction management graduates, Sedighi and Loosemore chose to conduct a structured electronic survey and this research method was selected for multiple reasons. A structured survey containing ‘closed’ questions provided Sedighi and Loosemore with a quantitative data sample which allowed them to make statistical conclusions about the graduates entering in to the construction industry. This was done by asking the respondents to rate targeted EOC characteristic criteria, all of which had been derived from relevant literature on EOC.
This quantitative data sample also allowed for further in depth analysis between subgroups within the data for sample, for example statistics by gender or work experience level, which allowed them to identify subtle differences in response from these groups. If an ‘open’ survey was conducted, for example asking the participants ‘what EOC characteristics do you value highest? ’, this would have provided Sedighi and Loosemore with a qualitative data sample which would have been much harder to analyse and could have possibly resulted in different research conclusions.
This may have been because the participants may not have been able to clearly articulate what they preferred or considered important from their employer but also depending on their level of work experience, they may not have know what they value highest. Sedighi and Loosemore then chose to conduct this structured survey via an online application as this the most effective strategy when wanting to survey such a wide geographical dispersion of respondents, as in this case, graduates from across Australia and the UK.
Choosing to conduct the survey via an online application also allowed for quick and easy delivery and return of the surveys as well as providing an easy to use reminder system. Online surveys are also the most cost effective strategy when surveying over such a large sample when compared to postal surveys. To conduct the survey and obtain their sample group, Sedighi and Loosemore contacted 76 heads of programmes across Australia and the UK. These heads of programmes then distributed the surveys electronically to over 400 students who then completed the survey online.
The Essay on Respondents of the Study
Respondents of the Study The proponent selected the high school students of Villamor High School to be the respondents of the study, preferably the freshmen and sophomore students. The proponent had came up with 119 students as respondents having 50 representatives from the first year level, 61 from the second year level and 8 representatives from the game enthusiasts/software programmers. The ...
To maximise the number of graduate responses, a maximisation strategy (Groves, 2009) was employed which offered a financial incentive of an iPad2 to a respondent selected from random. To further improve the response rate, Sedighi and Loosemore kept the survey brief and to two pages, kept the questions closed, therefore requiring little time to answer and ensured the respondents that they and their responses would remain anonymous. As a result 160 responses (40%) in total were received and this figure is consistent with similar scale studies of graduates (OCPE, 2006; AAGE, 2011).
Before the survey was distributed to the main sample group, Sedighi and Loosemore implemented good survey practice and conducted the survey with a small sample of graduates before refining the survey. The survey asked the respondents to rate 26 EOC criteria, derived from relevant EOC literature, on a seven point Likert scale rating the importance of each one. Five independent questions were also asked to identify which sub group the respondent belonged to to allow for further in depth analysis i. e. gender, work experience, work place size, type of course, and what year of study they were currently undertaking.
The accuracy of the data sample collected from the survey was ensured by using the Likert scale to rate the EOC preferences. This Likert scale gave the respondents seven points to rate their EOC characteristic preference ranging from unimportant, through neutral to important. This not only allowed for Sedighi and Loosemore to produce a hierarchy of preferences which could be compared across the groups of respondents but also prevents the respondent from being forced to adopt a positive or negative position which they do not hold (Garland, 2001).
Another advantage of using the Likert scale within the survey is that it produces a more consistent response of preferences ensuring that a uniform attitude is measured and that the reliability of the data is high (Burns, 1996; De Vaus, 2002).
The Research paper on Quester Et Al 2001 Research Cba Viewers
The Community Broadcaster of Australia (CBA) has provided a wide range of shows for children and adults throughout Australia. Since CBA planned to improve its understanding of television (TV) viewers for better quality and program scheduling, it had conducted a market research of mail survey at limited cost to identify the factors most influencing viewers on program selection. By doing so, CBA ...
Further accuracy was then also ensured by Sedighi and Loosemore by defining what was meant by terms such as ‘good quality working relationships’ and ‘high pay’ or ‘income’. To analyse the data collected from the surveys, Sedighi and Loosemore gave each of the 26 EOC criteria a score out of 7 and this was calculated by the frequency a variable was rated important.
For example, the variable ‘good quality working relationships’ was rated as ‘important’, a score of 7, by 62% of the respondents equalling a score of 4. 77, and all criteria were then ranked according to this score. The means of all the criteria were also analysed and by calculating the stand deviation of each variable the level of agreement between respondents could be seen. Independent t-tests were then also conducted on the collected data and this was to compare the responses of different sub groups within the sample group i. e. gender and work experience.
This then allowed Sedighi and Loosemore to identify subtle differences in response from these sub groups and one particular conclusion that this then allowed Sedighi and Loosemore to suggest was that recruitment strategies for male and female graduates should slightly differ. In conclusion, through the collection of quantitative data by Sedighi and Loosemore, via a structured online survey and the statistical analysis, they were able to conclude that the top three most important EOC characteristics for university students were, good quality of working relationships, being able to learn on the job and workplace that is passionate about work. . This research method, a structured, closed question, Likert scaled based online survey, is one which is surprisingly not as widely used throughout construction management research as I thought it would be. Throughout my broad review of articles published in the journal Construction Management and Economics during 2012 and 2013, I was surprised to find that the majority, approximately 85%, of all articles were based upon research methods which did not involve the author or authors conducting a survey of any kind.
The Dissertation on The Research Process Scientific Method
Processes of research by Jonathan Guy In this essay I will outline the primary methods of conducting research, their advantages and disadvantages and will outline where they are best utilised. In addition to this, I will select certain methods of research that I believe will be applicable to my own dissertation and state why I will use those particular methods to conduct my own research. The first ...
This may be due to the point that the construction industry is one which is heavily dependent on economic factors, and as such, the most common theme of research within the construction industry involves the statistical analysis of economic data and trends which have already been collected by other bodies or parties and this therefore leads to the decreased need for the author to undertake a survey based research method.
However this does not detract from the effectiveness of survey based research methods, though suggests that perhaps surveying is more suited to conducting research on human factors such as values, preferences, effectiveness of workplace strategies etc. , subjective issues, which makes up a smaller portion of construction management research. Between October 2012 and March 2013, a total of 56 articles were published by the Construction Management and Economics journal across six volumes, and out of these 56 articles a total of seven were based on a research method which involved a survey being conducted.
