Workforce Surveys: Introduction

Time to reflect on my experience with CEB Workforce Surveys & Analytics to this point. Sharing this knowledge is certainly past due, but I hope you find my insights valuable none-the-less! To start, I work with two distinct types of surveys:

Employee Opinion Surveys (EOS)- Sample or census survey in which content is used to collect employee opinions about key business strategies, decisions, processes, etc. and determine the effectiveness and alignment of these initiatives via the performance of the business and the engagement of its employees.

360 Degree Feedback Surveys (360) - Sample survey in which leaders gain 360 degree feedback from multiple levels of the organization (upward, downward, peer). Content is specific to assessing an individual in relation to the key professional development and leadership metrics of the organization.

Consultants work to develop survey content/response scales/metrics that align with an individual business's needs. In almost all cases, individual questions are categorized into mega themes, and open-ended questions are coded into mega topics for reporting purposes.

Survey data is often compared to historical data, internal benchmark data, and/or external normative data in order to gauge positive and/or negative progress on company initiatives and compare results to industry best practices.

Learning Research: Integrity and Trust

While academic institutions have guidleines and policies such as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and human subject protections for conducting research, the corporate world has few research regulations or standards. It is important that anyone conducting Human Resources Development (HRD) research and/or evaluations within their organization maintain research integrity.

Hatcher (2005) outlines the following ethical principles to ensure research integrity in organizations.
1) Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice
2) Guidelines on conflicts of interest and conscience
3) Activities of peer review

Respect, beneficence, and justice are carried out via research practitioners taking on the role of "guardians and guarantors of the protection of the participants in (...) research, beginning with their knowledge-able, voluntary, and informed consent." (Hatcher, 2005) Informed consent is achieved only after participants have been given adequate information outlining the research including participant selection criteria, and full accounting of any risks involved in participation. Two potential risks of participation in HRD studies include loss of privacy and/or ownership of intellectual proerty. Persons are then given the option to participate or not participate in the study.

Guidelines for conflicts of interest are necessary contracts to be sure researchers do not compromise their professional judgment for financial or personal gain. Many "researchers base their behaviors on tacit or implied knowledge or assumptions that may not be ethically correct in every case," (Hatcher, 2005) so it is especially important to use peer reviewers to ensure research integrity. "Peer review works because it can screen for weaknesses and inadequacies in design, method, or interpretation of results." (Hatcher, 2005)

Check out this additional resource: #lrnchat March 31st, both early and late chats. Peruse the answers to: Q1) What learning data does your org collect? Q2) Are there ethical issues in collecting learning data?

Reference:
Hatcher, T. (2005), Research integrity: Ensuring trust in the academy. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 16: 1–6. doi: 10.1002/hrdq.1120

Learning Research: Methods of Data Collection

When developing or evaluating learning, there are many data collection methods to consider. In addition, there are many criteria you should consider when making data collection method decisions. The collection of multiple types of data will allow for more confidence and validity in your conclusions.



Surveys/ Questionnaires - Strongly designed questions allow researchers to analyze responses and summarize results *low response rates

Interviews - One-on-one or focus group interviews use standard or probing questions *high response rates

Observation - A participant or non-participant in the research activity immerses himself in observing behavior and reactions of others

Psychometrics - "Self-report questionnaires, objective tests, and normative, criterion-referenced and idiogrpahic tests" (Brewerton & Millward, 2002)

Company records - Attendance, participation, operations reports, performance reviews, reports, blogs etc.

Not all research methods are appropriate or feasible in all situations. Consider the following criteria when making your decision: credibility, practicality, timeliness, accuracy, objectivity, scope, availability, cost effectiveness.

Reference:
Brewerton, P., & Millward, L. (2002). Organizational Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.