Factors Impacting upon the Performance of Workplace Assessors - Annotated Bibliography Example

Critical Evaluation of Research Information Quailitative research is a type of scientific research which involves an investigation that seeks to answer quetsions systematically using a predestined a set of procedures to solve the problem. It uses the “bottom up” and the inductive method of research primarily for the purposes of exploration and description in an effort to understand how peple feel, think and experiancetheir lives. Qualitative data is used. Evidence is collected, analaysis of themes, hoistic features and patterns done, and unprecedented findings produced which are applicable beyond the immediate areas tha research is limited to.The findings of a qualitative research are not generalized since the focal point is usually localized, personalized and subjective. Qualtitative research on the other hand is scientific research method that makes use of confirmatory, deductive or “top down” scientifc approach. It is primarily used for explanation, prediction and description of quantitative data. It involves proper application of statistical methods to a large population. It is based on quantitave data and concentatrates on the analysis of diffferent variables. The evdenece is collected and the findings are statistical based on the predeiction (hypothesis.) The goal of a quantitative research is usually to generalize the findings. Both qualitative and quantitave research methods differ mainly in the objectves of study, kind of resaerch questions used, types data collection instruments, the form of data produced by these instruments and the extent of flexibility of the study design. The following table adopted from Snap Surveys (2011) wesbite summarizes the diffefences between qualitative and quantitave resaerch methods. Table 1. Differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods.   Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Aim To understand the underlying reasons and motivations To obtain insights into the circumstances of the problem, getting new ideas and theories for successive quantitatve studies To expose the existing trends in views, thoughts and opinions To get the generalized result from quantified data analysed on a sample and apply it to the population under study. To determine the ocurrence of different opinions and view in the sample under study To get findingd that can be further explored by a qualitative study. Sample Selection and size A small number of respodents are usually chosen using a particular quota for non-represenative cases. A randomly selected large group of cases represing the population under study. Collection of Data The techniques used are either unstructured or semi-structured with the use of individual or focus group interviews The techniques used are structured with the use of questionnaires or telephone interviews. Data analysis The analytical techniques are on-statistical like thematic analysis. The analytical techniques are statistical like use of descriptive techniques and measures of central tendency. Results Investigative and exploratory non-conclusive findings that cannot be used for generalizations. Give a basic understanding for further research and decision making. More conclusive findings that are used to make a recommendaions appropriate course of action. Question Format Open-ended Closed-Ended The most important difference between qualitaive and quantitative research methods is flexibility. Quantitaive research methods are generally inflexible. Quantitave research methods such as quetsionnaires and surveys, partcipants are askes the same similar questions in an identical order. The respones expected from the participants are either fixed or “close-ended”. This inflexibility has an advantage in that it allows meaningful evaluation of the responses collected. Qualitative methods on the other hand are flexible allowing more spontaneity and variation of the relationship between the researcher and partcipants. The research questions are usually “open-ended” and the wording may vary from one participant to another. The partcipants therefore respond freely in their own words. It is not a simple “yes” or ”no.” So, how are the two types of scinetific research methods valid in research and to what extent can they be reliad upon to give the required outcome? The validity of a research method refers to the extent to which the findingd of the study gave the outcome which they were designed to give. Reliability of a research study on the other hand refers to ability of the research method to be apllied elsewhere in a similar situation. There are differrent standrds for measures of validity and reliability for quantitative and qualitative research methods in evaluating the quality of a research. The table below shows criteria for explitly evaluating the soundness of both qualitative and quantitave resaerch methods. Table 1. Different criteria for judging qualitative and quantitave research methods. Traditional Criteria for Judging Quantitative Research Alternative Criteria for Judging Qualitative Research internal validity credibility external validity transferability reliability dependability objectivity confirmability The view of reliability of quantitative methods is based on the postulation of repeatability or reccurrence. It is concerned if the same results will be essentially obtatined if the same observations are made more than once which cannot be achieved in realility. The reliability of the quantitative research methods is estimated by constructing different hypothetical theories to try and explain the fact. Reliability of qualirtative research methods is measured by the ability of the researcher to explain the results if the reaserch was carried out under different circumstances. The next section of this paper is a critically developed, theoretically informed analysis of tow journal articles illustrating how they exemplify quantitative and qualitative research. The insights each provides and the extentent to whixh each exemplifies a valid, rigorous and relaibale research has been discussed. Critical Analysis of a Qualitative Research Susanne, A., (2007), "Factors impacting upon the performance of Workplace Assessors: A Case Study," International Journal of Training Research, vol. 5, no. 1: pp. 1-20 The first critical appraisal is a study by Armstrong (2007) addressing the main factors impacting on the performance of workplace assessors in the oil and gas industry though a qualitative lens by investigating the way assessees felt about the work done by workplace assessors who were working in an upstream oil and gas industry in a variety of geographically isolated locations and investigated the role of the assessors and the impact they have on workforce engagement. The tittle of the research study is self explanantory which suggests that the factors affectig the performance of workplace assessors can only be established from the workplace and the researcher’s attempt to gain insight into the role of internal workplace assessors by getting views of carefully selected workforce assessors and their assessees. The abstract shorstly introduces the need to know the factors that have the greatest impact on the performance of worplaceassors which a requirement for the development and maintanace of a motivated and comitted workforce which very inportanr of the growth and success of the business. The qualitaive research method used was Actiol Research Model which was very practical in this case since the results cam be immediately applied to the situation. The introductory part starts by defining the role of a workplace assessor and how much value this research adds to this definition. Armstrong has pinted out that although the work of the workplace assessor is to gather evidence that validates the competences of the employees to meet the industry training skills, they are also expected to perform to meet the hight standards of their role. A number of previous studies that have proved required standards of competency among workplace assessors have been cited in this research. The researcher’s main aim in this study was to reveal the importance of the role played by workforce assessors and the ensuing effects on the workforce engagement (Armstrong, 2007). The reseash was initiated by gathering data from two target populations: Workplace assessors in the gas and oil industry and employees (assessees) in the gas and oil industry who had been assessed within the first three months of the start of the research project. In the following events the researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with the assessors and the assessees based on their experiences of the industr unders question. This approach is vlid because hetting information directly from the people themselves gives appropriate endpoints. The other research tools used were quetsionnaires with mostly open-ended quetsions designed to encourage partcipants to give as much information as possible. The author justified Action Research model as the right approach for her study which she said was “very practical as results can be applied immediately to the specific situation or problem” (McLagan, 1989). Data collection and analysis was done by carefully preparing and reviewing the transcripts from the face-to-face interviews between the researsher and the individuals or fucus groups with attention paid to privacy by avoidning the disclosure of the details of the participants which were considered to be personal. The interviews commenced with the researher asking general quetsions followed by more specifc quetsions as the inteview continued on. Detailed notes were analysed to enable prediction of forthcoming issues to manifest into a conceptual model. Colour and symbols were used to code for thoughts, ideas or perceptions that generated from the interview and the data gathered from the quetsionnaire (Angus & Gray, n.d. p.25-27). Use of focus groups to gather information by typing into transcripts and also the memos, annotations and refelctions were written by participants at regular intervals by the partcipants until conceptual understanding was obtained. The main issues that have been detailed in the discussion section were focused on the main factors that affect the performance of workplace assessors. It focuses on the understanding of the performance at the workplace by the participants and means and ways they can use to improve the performance of the assessors at the workplace which will make them reliable during the years to come. The Learning Management System and lack of boundaries between training, coaching and assessment functions were considered as the main factors affecting the performance of workplace assessors. The others included the current staffing levels and the supervisory and management practices. The implementation of quality assured training and workplace assessment systems have been recommended by the researcher as a high reliability form of adult, vocational and technology education strategy. Critical Review of a Quantitave Research Curtis, David (2008), "Assessing Institutional Effectiveness: Current Practices and Prospects for VET", 17th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference, Launceston, Tasmania, 9-11 July 2008, Curtis (2008) carried out a quantitative survey to investigate the effectiveness of VET institutions based on the current practices and the prospects for the VET instituions which was administered to 320 randomly selected schools hpoing that if these practices related to each other in one way or another, they could contribute to the improvement of VET in Australia. The title of this research paper is also self explanatory. However, it doesn,t show that the focus of the study lies on the enumerated aspects in the study. There is a brief summary of the purpose of the research in the abstract and projects the points of the conclusion as the findings. Basing the research on the present need for quality VET indicators in the institutions of higher learning, the researcher has cited various works by other authors on such items that have been identified as learner satisfaction and completion indicators during training in VET. In the introductory paragraph of the background section, the author has stressed on the need to provide services that warrant te satisfaction of the consumers. He feels that the determination of customer satisfaction varies from one person to another amf rom one industry to the next. These differences make the basis of this research study as there us an attempt to examine the systematic differences between the service providers depeding how varriedly they respond to customer satisfaction surveys. Curtis researched thouruoghly on the perspectives use as performance measures to ensure high quality teaching, training and assessment services for learners of Australi’s VET system in an attempt to lay down the backround of his prposed study. Building on the current implementationframework designed by the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) and the National Quality Council (NQC) he has laid out the three aspects of performance measurement for ensuring that “the quality of services and outcomes being achieved for clients” are maximized (NQC, 2007a, p. 1). The researcher believes that the Australian VET training system can be examined at multi-levels putting into consideration the outcomes for the different types of industries and education providers. The paper focuses on two main quality indicators: learner satisfaction and competency completion (National Centre for Vocational Education Research. (2006).). The subject of inquiry has been approached with a well researched research methodoly, longitudinal survey in which 10, 370 students from 320 randomly selected schools undetook an achievement tests and responded to questionnaires that sought to gain insights into the students’ backgrounds, perceptions and attitudes towards the schools and their future career aspirations. The quetsionnaires took the design of the the 1996 Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) that was used to get feedback from the students to get their perspectives of the quality of learning and teaching that the students experience in their courses. There were more than 90, 000 responses, however, some were incomplete. The complete and valid responses were 52, 000 and were used in the reported analyses. Since the CEQ is a 25-item instrument, confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch modeling were employed to the questionnaires to ensure that only those with a logical measure of the students’ perception of the quality of the course were retained. At last, only 18 of the 25 items were used and the perceived course quality was measured on a scale with a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of approximately 100 units. The results were presented in ctabulated forms which can be easily comprehended decsribing the multi-factoreddemographic details of the respondents, mean values obtained from the intruments of study. The student-level variable varried greatly among the participants and represented an important key in undertsanding the students who are more likely that others to leave training before completion. There seem to be minimal errors as far as gender or demographic variations are concerned. Upon analysis, all the struments used by the author revealed a statistically relevant positive correlation between the variables to comfortably conclude that factors affecting the effectiveness of school and the performance of the schools in terms of customer satisfcation and competence competion were positively correlated (Curtis, 2008). The performance indicators can be specified in terms of preffered outcomes for teachers of the VET systems. AQTF (2007) specifies performance indicators that can be used by the VET providers to improve their performance. The indicators include learner engagement, completion and satisfaction of the employer and are specified as the findings for the individual clients. The people in the VET system can use the findings of this research to improve the internal wuality of their services by improving the system proccessed. Since this study was done using a quantitaive mathod, the findings can be easily compared with data from other researches and sources. Conclusion The researches evaluated above stress upon the importance of competence of the VET students at the work place. This is greatly measured by the level of competence of the of the students at the place of work and how the employers are satisfied with the services offered by the VET graduated. This had become of significance over the past years due to growing concerns of increasing incompetence of the graduates at the work place. This has led to situations where some employers think of not hiring employees from the profession. This has made people to do great researches into VET systems both from the students at school and from the employers at work. The first article qualitatively analyses factors affecting the performance of workplace assessors who have gone through VET which were found to be lack of boundaries between coaching, assessing and training functions; the current trends of staff recruitment in the oil industry, and the management of the system of learning and the place of work. The second article used a longitudinal appraoch to survey the factors affecting the effectiveness of the VET institutions. Both articles recommend more research in this area of VET as well as allow for future VET providers and teachers to incorporate students into their professional world for maximun growth and development of the VET industry. References Angus, M and Gray J n.d., (a) Research Preparation: Methods of Research, Data Analysis, Perth, Edith Cowan University. AQTF. (2007, January 2001). Code of practice or the public disclosure of data from the Graduate Careers Council of Australia’s Graduate Destination Survey, Course Experience Questionnaire and Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire. Retrieved 26 March, 2008, from http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/archive/policies/statistics_survey_management/avcc_gcca_surveys_code_practice/gdsceqcp.htm Susanne, A, (2007), "Factors impacting upon the performance of Workplace Assessors: A Case Study," International Journal of Training Research, vol. 5, no. 1: pp. 1-20 Curtis, David (2008), "Assessing Institutional Effectiveness: Current Practices and Prospects for VET", 17th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference, Launceston, Tasmania, 9-11 July 2008, McLagan, P 1989, The models, Alexandria, VA, American Society for Training and Development, pp.13-14. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. (2006). A profile of TAFE institutes. Adelaide: NCVER. National Quality Council. (2007a). AQTF 2007. Essential standards for registration. Canberra: DEST. Snap Surveys, (2011), Qualitative vs Quantitative Research, Viewed on April 3, 2011 from http://www.snapsurveys.com/techadvqualquant.shtml Read More