Research Methods

                                               

This study proposed that there is a correlation between job satisfaction and employees’ performance/output

1.      Description of the research design

The research was a survey of nature. A survey is a type of research design which entails the disseminating of questionnaires to the respondents though sometimes may accommodate some bit of face to face interviews.  This design was adopted since it has been found to be effective, cheap and easy to conduct by many modern researchers.   

 Interviewing were adopted since asking questions face to face is easy and can help explain or clarify complex questions that the respondent might be unsure of how to respond to. Questionnaires were distributed to some of the sampled respondents as the researcher conducted interviews with the others.

2.      Description of the sample

The sample for this study constituted of a total of 80 respondents categorized as employees (tenured and non-tenured) and heads of departments. Out of the 80, 50 were employees where 25 were females, and the remaining 25 were male employees. The ratio of tenured to non-tenured employee respondents was also 1:1 The other 30 respondents were the departmental heads of various departments of faculties of Findlay University. There are ten departments and the number meaning that three heads were randomly selected from each department.

To qualify for selection to the sample, a respondent had to fulfill the following conditions. For an employee, he/she had to be aged between 25 and 70 years. He/she also had to have worked in Findlay University for a period not less than one year. Finally, He/she had to have acquired an academic level of at least a diploma in any career.  The same case also applied to the departmental heads.  Important to note is that the selection criteria was simply random. Each employee and department head had an equal chance of selection provided they fulfilled the above three conditions.

3.      Description the study instrument(s)

For this study, three tools of data collection were used. These included two differently structured questionnaire and one interview guide. The first questionnaires were aimed for faculty employees (tenured and non-tenured). This questionnaire consisted of three major sections. The first section contained eight items intended to gather the employees’ bio-information and academic qualification. This information was important as it would garner information about gender distribution of employee respondents and categorization of the academic standards. The second contained 11 items with Likert 5-point scale responses. These items were objected to drawing employees’ level of satisfaction concerning various elements such as compensation, promotion, job security, employee/employer relationship among others. The last item was open-ended and required the responded to air his view about what can be done to promote his motivation.

The second questionnaire was meant for the departmental heads and contained only two sections. The first section inquired about their bio-information while the second was also based on a five-point Likert scale (1=strongly agree, 2=agree, 3=not sure, 4=disagree and 5= strongly disagree).  The surveys were hand-distributed to the respondents.

The third instrument was an interview that contained only two open-ended questions mainly aimed at employee-respondents. These items required the employees to give their views on what can be done to reinforce their job satisfaction by the university administration.

In total, 70 respondents responded to the study. This figure represents 88% of the total sample. 

4.      Explanation of procedures

What, when, where and how of the study

The major objective of this study was to gain insight on how job satisfaction is of great importance to buffer employees output. This study took place at the University of Findlay through the whole month of October. The data collection phase was scheduled to take place between the first two weeks of the month while the analysis and report preparation took place within the last two weeks of the same month. As mentioned in the above sections, the study involved employees and the heads of the various departments of Findlay University. The mode of inquiry was mainly surveying with minimal interviewing.

5.      Internal Validity Issues

During this, the researcher identified some validity issues. The first eminent of these issues, was bias. Due to the random distribution of the questionnaires to the tenured and non-tenured respondents, the researcher came to note that there more non-tenured employees responded to the questionnaires than their tenured counterparts. Consequently, there was an insufficient response from the tenured group. Fortunately, there was still enough time to rectify the issue. The researcher went back to Findlay with questionnaires that he distributed specifically to the tenured staff and at last, there was balance in the number of responses. 

 6.      Plan for analysis of data

Upon the receiving of the filled questionnaires, the researcher coded the qualitative responses that were then entered in MS-Excel. Descriptive statistics were then calculated. Inferential statistics were calculated with the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

The results of the responses of the employees then tabulated, and comparison data between the two groups (tenured and non-tenured) illustrated through tables.  Apparently, several tabulations were generated. The first table demonstrated the difference in the level of job security while the second presented the difference in employees’ perception of the importance of job security. The third table displayed the difference in satisfaction with regards to job security while the fourth showed the difference in performance due to the various job satisfaction issues.  A stocked bar was also used to present the findings. Finally, the responses to the interview to the employees were tabulated, and the responses by the department heads displayed in tables. 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in graduate paper writing service if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom research paper writing service.