Select A Possible Method And Design

Select A Possible Method And Design

Create a brief summary of the research method, and then design your plan to use to investigate your research topic. Select a method and design appropriate for a PhD study. PhD quantitative studies must demonstrate both internal and external validity (e.g., large, random samples, statistical power and representativeness). Qualitative studies must demonstrate validity within the context of the specific qualitative design (e.g., credibility, dependability, transferability, trustworthiness).

Replication studies are not permitted. Your summary must address the following: Note a specific method and design you plan to use in your research. Describe and substantiate the appropriateness of the method and design to respond to the stated problem, purpose, and research questions. Note how the proposed method and design accomplish the study goals, why the design is the optimum choice for the proposed research, and how the method aligns with the purpose and research questions. Provide appropriate foundational research method support for the proposed study design.

Explain the particular data gathering techniques and data analyses processes. Sample size of the study population should be identified and must be appropriate and justified based on the nature of the study design. Quantitative analyses must include justified sample size determination. Length: 2-3 pages, not including title and reference pages Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

Paper For Above instruction

For this research study, I propose a quantitative research method employing a correlational design to investigate the relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance within large manufacturing firms. This approach is appropriate given the nature of the research questions, which seek to quantify the degree to which employee engagement predicts organizational outcomes. Quantitative methods enable precise measurement, statistical analysis, and generalizability, which align with the study’s aim to inform organizational policies through empirical data.

The validity of the research hinges on ensuring internal and external aspects. Internally, the study will utilize a large, randomly selected sample from multiple organizations to enhance representativeness and statistical power, ensuring that findings accurately reflect the underlying relationships. External validity will be addressed through sampling from diverse organizational contexts and industries, which facilitates the generalization of results to a broader population. The chosen correlational design effectively captures the degree of association between the variables without implying causality, which aligns with the study's limitations.

The data collection will be conducted through structured questionnaires administered electronically. The questionnaire will include validated scales for measuring employee engagement, such as the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli et al., 2002), and organizational performance indicators like productivity, financial results, and customer satisfaction. Data analyses will involve descriptive statistics to summarize the data, followed by Pearson’s correlation coefficients to determine the strength and direction of relationships. Multiple regression analysis will be employed to control for potential confounding variables and to assess the predictive power of employee engagement on organizational performance outcomes.

The sample size will be determined using power analysis. Based on previous research (Morris & Venkatesh, 2010), a minimum sample of 200 participants ensures sufficient power (0.80) to detect medium effect sizes with an alpha level of 0.05. To accommodate potential non-response, the initial recruitment will target 250 employees, obtained through stratified random sampling across various organizational levels and departments. This approach guarantees diverse representation, augmenting external validity and the robustness of the findings.

In conclusion, the proposed quantitative correlational design is optimal for addressing the research questions within the scope of a PhD study, offering the methodological rigor necessary to produce valid, reliable, and generalizable results. By leveraging validated measurement instruments and a sufficiently powered sample, the study aims to contribute meaningful insights into the dynamics between employee engagement and organizational performance.

References

  • Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The Measurement of Work Engagement with a Short Questionnaire: A Cross-National Study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 701–716.
  • Morris, M. G., & Venkatesh, V. (2010). Job Characteristics and Employee Performance: A Study of Retail Employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 509–530.
  • Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Seasonal and Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 93–111.
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