Research in the Social Sciences Methods Essay

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Preferring to use a quantitative approach to provide the business community with numerical data it can use to transform organizational practices and increase employee retention, I will be using a survey as the primary instrument of data collection. Pennsylvania State University (2006) defines a survey as “a research method for collecting information from a selected group of people using standardized questionnaires or interviews,” (p. 1). While the central component of the survey method is a questionnaire, the survey methodology also includes the selection of the population sample, designing reliable and valid survey instruments that accurately measure the target variables, and using the most robust methods of data analysis. Performing surveys is a critical component of social science research, and it is important to ensure survey method validity and reliability.

Surveys are not necessarily easy or simple. The most common methods of collecting survey data is by using in-person questionnaires, telephone interviews, paper questionnaires, or online surveys (Pew Research Center, 2017). As Kelley, Clark, Brown & Sitzia (2013) also point out, there are three main functions of survey research including descriptive, analytic, and evaluative. Descriptive research gathers data to “examine a situation by describing important factors,” (Kelley, Clark, Brown & Sitzia, 2013, p. 261). When conducting a survey on employee retention, for example, I could be looking at the causes of employee turnover by surveying former employees of the same organization, or I could look at the perceptions of a workplace environment and organizational culture among employees who have remained loyal to the same firm for more than five years.

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Using a mixed methods approach, the researcher would be able to describe the most important factors relevant to why some employees leave, and why others choose to stay with an organization. It would be important to measure both internal/personal variables such as health status, family situations, or other issues not related to the workplace environment, as well as external/organizational level variables such as the quality of the workplace environment, leadership, organizational culture, and job satisfaction.

In addition to describing demographic data, the researcher would also be measuring attitudes, perceptions, or beliefs in a quantitative way via a survey that uses numerical rating systems like a Likert scale or multiple choice (Ponto, 2015). Survey questions would therefore include a wide range of topics including how long the person remained with the current organization, and also their perceptions of….....

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