Business_Research

Descriptive statistical techniques were used and developed to tally up emotional responses from the employees. Managers at Insuratel actively seek resolution to the problem of absenteeism by first administering surveys to 100 random employees, submitted anonymously. It is necessary to identify the driving factors of this negative outcome and anonymity will reflect more accurate truths. The questions listed were designed to focus on the correlation between absenteeism and job satisfaction—this is considered statistical inference (Lind, Marchal, & Wathen, 2008). A sample of the population of Insuratel workers was needed to troubleshoot and predict best practices to improve absenteeism. The strength of the relationship between the two variables dictates the approach from management. This report will emphasize the dependency phenomena and therefore outline the correlation analysis while addressing the challenges of data compilation and analysis so sound managerial decisions can be made concerning absenteeism. The design of the experiment dictates that, if a certain event did not occur, employee absenteeism would not have increased by 38% in the past 6 months. Absenteeism is considered to be measurable (Absenteeism, 2010) and the design of this experiment is critical because it ensures that there is a genuine causal relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. The hypothesis used, at first glance, seemed to be easily testable. The challenge is that, in any concrete experimental design, the opposite should also be true. The design of the experiment establishes that, if a certain event does not occur, the tested outcome would not have happened. If the hypothesis used is not valid then it is also not reliable. A test can be reliable but not valid, whereas a test cannot be valid and unreliable. There is a real causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables. After analyzing the results of the hypothesis, statistically, the null is either accepted or rejected. Factors other than what is stated in the hypothesis could always influence the results. Of course, perfection in an experiment is more or less impossible, because of time, resources and unknown factors that could play a critical role. The current hypothesis does not cover employee’s motivation nor does it cover much about employee expectation. Employee motivation and expectation could be extremely relevant when considering how valid the results are (Spector, 1997). Discussing validity covers the entire experimental concept and determines whether the results obtained meet all of the requirements of the research method. Therefore, choosing the proper method can be a challenge. If the wrong method is administered during research then the data may not be reliable. Giving the population that is involved in this analysis; self administered questionnaires were suitable. However, there are potential challenges to validity and reliability in our research (Spector, 1997). Understanding how to put questions together that obtains unbiased information can be a challenge. Considering Insuratels' culture the questionnaire was administered with notification of discretion. This allowed individuals to be completely honest with their answers which would render more accurate research. On the other hand, reliability, again, is a challenge due to the limitation of only administering one questionnaire (Spector, 1997). Although, administered questionnaires are less time consuming, more cost effective, and it provides accurate answers form the respondents, the disadvantage of self administered questionnaires would be the lack of control over correspondents causing more challenges to the validity and reliability or the data and analysis. Correspondents may or may not even respond to the questionnaire which would negatively affect the accuracy of the study results. Conversely, positive assumptions can be made about the reliability of the survey if the results are comparatively similar. However, there is always a chance that the sample group provides unreliable results due to lying at one of extremes. Using numerous sample groups could level out any extremes and create more precise results. Unfortunately this was not done. When conducting research is it imperative that the information obtained can be used and validated in a way that would allow the researchers to formulate a conclusion based on the original hypothesis, or business issue. Certain steps are necessary when constructing a means to simplify the likelihood of the data being misinterpreted, or miscalculated. However, there are flaws in most research instruments, leaving little room for error when searching to minimize the challenges for testing the reliability and validity of the research question as well as the data. In order for Insuratel to test their hypothesis, they will need to study the content of the analyses and formulate a conclusion that will best aid to the success of decreasing absenteeism in the workplace. Insuratel issued a questionnaire to their employees to test the conditions of the work environment and or experience of the employees. The content of the questions and how specific they are to the actual issue are a challenge, due to different perceptions. So it is important to form the question in a way that would guide the answer to the overall issue, which in Insuatel’s case are chronic absences (Reeves, 2000). This method is called construct validity and should be used to avoid issues and to reaffirm the conclusions (Van Rooy, 1998). The removal of all surface constraints is also a precursor to avoiding issues with reliability. Controversial issues should not be covered in the questionnaire or survey of any kind when pooling for accurate responses. All other surface constraints should be identified and addressed and if possible removed for each of the participants so that the implementation of the assessment can allow the participants to record their true concerns without feeling threatened giving way towards general response types. There are four general types of measurement scales: sorting, ranking, rating, and categorizing (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). The data collected by the survey team at Insuratel used a rating scale. The surveys where used to measure employee job satisfaction across departments. The Likert Scale was used to collect the data for all the questions in the survey. The questions asked in the survey studied the attitudes of the employees and their satisfaction. The surveys provided valuable feedback and determined that most of the employees are satisfied with their jobs at Insuratel. The study also suggests that employees don’t have a strong opinion about support from upper level management. Nominal and ordinal measurement scales are used to categorize data. Keeping this in mind, the Nominal data allowed Insuratel to group the selected sample into subgroups. Based on the data collected most lower-level male employees feel that they are treated fairly by their direct supervisors. However, lower-level female employees made up 80% of the employees who either disagree or strongly disagree that they feel they are treated fairly. The ordinal data shows that even though the majority of the female sample feels that they are treated unfairly, the majority of the employees are satisfied with the way that their direct supervisors treat them. Based on the findings, Insuratel would benefit from implementing a workplace sensitivity program. Interval and ratio measurements are defined as continuous data. The interval scales incorporate the concept of equality of interval (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). The highest satisfaction levels were from males in middle management. From the data it can be concluded that middle management is has the highest satisfaction of all employees who work at Insuratel. Ratio scales look at the departments and their satisfaction levels and it has been determined by the data that Insuratel’s Marketing department has the highest percentage of satisfied employees for the entire company. In conclusion, Learning Team A has compiled research to determine how managers can find a resolution to the problem of absenteeism is the workplace. The team was given its feedback by allowing the managers the opportunity to fill out self administered surveys. This report has pointed out the dependency phenomena and has addressed the challenges of the team’s data compilation and analysis so professional managerial assessments can be made concerning absenteeism. We have concluded that there is a genuine underlying relationship between both independent and dependent variables. During the final phase of the project the researchers will edit the data for errors, code the data, and convert the data into forms more appropriate for analysis (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). After reviewing the collected data, the learning team is able to provide a factual study of information provided by both the independent and dependent variables. References Cooper, D. R. & Schindler, P. S. (2006). Business research methods (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Lind, D., Marchal, W., & Wathen, S. (2008). Statistical techniques in business and economics (13th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Maliakal, L. (2010). Absenteeism in the workplace, Retrieved on July 25, 2010 from http://www.Buzzle.com Reeves, T.C.(2000). Alternative assessment approaches for online learning environments in higher education, Journal of Educational Computing Research. Ch. 23, pp. 101-111 Spector, Paul. E.(1997). Job satisfaction: application, assessment, cause, and consequences. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publication Inc. Van Rooy, W.(1998). Addressing possible problems of validity and reliability in qualitative educational research, Australian Association for Research in Education. 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