This chapter contained the methodology that was adopted for the study. It comprised of research design and framework, population and sampling procedure, instrumentation, reliability of the research instruments, data collection procedure, data analysis as well as research conculsions.
The design is however, strongly influenced by the research questions and by the findings from the review of the literature that are contained in chapters one and two respectively.
The study was an explanatory quantitative research work. According to Babbie (2011), surveys may be used for explanatory analysis and are essential in studies that have individuals as units of analysis. The data was collected using a questionnaire containing closed-ended questions in the Likert‟s scale format where the respondent must select from a list of answers.
Research Framework
The research framework (See figure 3.1) of the study was developed in accordance with the purpose of the study and the literature review. It offers an overview of the major components the researcher targeted. According to the research questions and related literature review about training needs, and the variables to be studied, the researcher then provides the research framework which will give a visual representation of what is being researched.
According to Blanchard and Thacker (2010), Training need is the gap between what employees are required to know to perform their job and what they actually know. Miller and Osinski (2002) further describe it as a crucial activity for the training and development function.
There the framework depicts training need of employees whether it be on a staff, personal or task level is to be met by the provision of training of an organization for different employees whether they be administrative or lower end employees. Administrative employees include the employees who work in the managers, supervisors, human resource department, accounts, administrative assistance, engineers, information technology, internal audit, marine department, and in seaport operations. Lower Level employees include port police officers, clerks, secretaries, electrician, mechanics, customer service and maintenance, such as cleaners, security, company drivers.
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Figure 3.1 Research framework
Research Method
The fundamental premise of needs assessment is that in order to make effective decisions about current or future training needs, data must first be gathered (Gupta, 1999). There are many ways to collect data. Commonly used methods are interviews, focus groups, surveys and questionnaires, and observation. Other methods include the nominal group technique, action research, and Dacum (developing a curriculum). Most needs assessments employ one or several data-gathering techniques (Gupta, 1999).This study utilizes quantitative research to collect data from participants in an effort to answer research questions. Quantitative research was selected in order to obtain data from a wider sample of employees in a short time frame. The questionnaire was selected from a previous study and was modified to better suit for this study and field. Also a qualitative approach was used to deduct information from a document provided to the researcher by the manager of the name organization to aid in the answering of research questions 1 and 2.
Demographics
Provision of Training Training Need
Administrative Level Employees
Organizational/Growth
Lower Level Employees
Personal
Task
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Research Procedure
In conducting this research the first step was to identify a problem. Then the research purpose and questions were identified and defined. This served as the basis of the study. Then literature was collected to gain more insight on the topic. Information was obtained from previous studies conducted as they provided different ideas of what can be done in carrying out this study.
A letter was emailed to the Human Resource Manager of SLASPA informing her of the study. Due to the fact that the researcher has contacts at the organization, communication between the researcher and her contacts took place to ensure that the procedure was carried out smoothly.
Once the questionnaires were obtained they were be analyzed. Results were shared and discussed with experts in the field of Human Resource Development on the subject matter for improvement where needed.
As for the main study, a similar letter was emailed to the human resource manager and also permission was requested from the general Manager of the organization informing them of the study, and permission was requested to go to the workplace to request the participation of the employees. After one week the respondent received permission from both HR manager and general manager approving. As mentioned in the background the organization consist two airports and a seaport. Sample was collected from each of these areas. After which, the completed questionnaires were analyzed with the help of appropriate soft ware. The findings were discussed with subject matter experts in the field who will further aid in providing a conclusion and suggestions for future study (See figure 3.2).
Identify research purpose and research questions Review of literature Identify research problem
Adjust instrument and run main study
Construction of framework
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Figure
3.2
Research procedureData Collection
Research Sample
Sampling is concerned with drawing of individuals or entities from a population in such a way as to permit generalization about the phenomena of interest from the sample to the population (Pinsonneault & Kraemer, 1993). The researcher distributed a total of 200 questionnaires at the organization. Questionnaires were distributed to employees from each of these locations and from different levels of the organization. One hundred sixty one (161) questionnaires (81%) were received. Questionnaires were considered invalid. Therefore a total of 159 were used for the sample. Convenient sample was used.
Criteria Selection and Convenient Sampling
The sample had to meet two criteria. Respondents had to be employed with SLASPA on a full time basis. This therefore means that volunteers and part- time employees were not included in the population. Also employees must have at least 1 year of employment with the organization.
These two were based on employees work experience. Work experience is a good predictor of job knowledge (Longoria, 1997).
The respondents for this survey were selected by using convenient sampling method.
Convenience sampling is a non probability method. This means the respondents are chosen in a non random manner, and some members of the population have no chance of being included.
Analyze data
Discuss findings
Conclusions and recommendations
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When time or cost is a factor, convenient sampling becomes a useful sampling method (Kahl, 2010).
Research Instrumentation
The instrument used for this research was largely adapted from Hennessy-Hicks Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire and Manual, (Hicks and Hennessy, 2001). The aims of the
Hennessy-Hicks Training Needs Assessment Questionnaire are to identify training needs at the individual, group or organisational level and to prioritise these training needs. The instrument is unique in that it is tailored for use specifically with health care teams, but can easily be adapted to meet the particular objectives of a clinical specialty, management or organisation. Therefore this instrument has been modified to suit the organization which will be studied. The instrument has been successfully used in developed and developing countries, with equal success. Developed in 1996, the original instrument consisted of 30 questions and had a 7 point Likert scale. Some of the questions on the instrument were tailored for this research without compromising its psychometric properties. A total of 20 questionnaires were distributed to employees at the organization to which may respondents said that they had difficulty understanding the scale. Therefore the scale was change to a five point Likert scale according to two criteria: how dissatisfied are respondent‟s with their training and their task to how satisfied the respondent is currently with training and
performing their task. It ranged from highly dissatisfied to highly satisfied. In majority of studies, the tool has been modified in order to customize it for the particular aims and objectives of a study and it has not compromised its validity or its reliability. Therefore a total of 28 questions were asked to the employees at SLASPA. The questions were designed in two categories, one in relation to employee‟s job performance and the next on assessment of the training programs issued by SLASPA. The item numbers for questions in relation to job are (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15, Q16 and Q17). Questions in relation to training offered by SLASPA are (Q18, Q19, Q20, Q21, Q22, Q23, Q24, Q25, Q26, Q27 and Q28). This could be found in section 2 of the questionnaire.
In addition, the questionnaire has a section for biographical and occupational information, thus affording the possibility of breaking down the sample into different groups for comparison purposes. The instrument has added benefits in that the method of assessing training needs is
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relatively opaque and thus reasonably free from deliberate distortion. Standard methods of
collecting training needs data tend towards a free response wish-list approach, which may provide a statement of the respondent's interest and desires rather than reflecting actual skill deficits and areas in need of development (Hicks and Hennessy, 1999).
The research instrument of this study is a questionnaire; it comprises of three major sections (See appendix A). This questionnaire is adopted from Hennessy-Hicks Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire and Manual (Hicks and Hennessy, 2001). Section I is demographic information of respondents. Section II focuses on training needs and Section III will be long answer questions.
Section I request demographic information of the respondent; therefore, it includes gender, age, job title, working experience, education and marital status.
1. Gender: Male or Female
2. Age: Participants will state their age.
3. Employment position: Is the current position that the employee currently holds.
4. Education: Is divided into four groups: High School Diploma, Associates Degree, Bachelors Degree and Maters Degree or higher.
5. Marital Status: Participants will be asked to identify which one of the two categories they fall under.
6. Working experience: Participants will be asked to indicate the number of years they have been working in their current position.
Section two comprises of the questionnaire items from 1 to 28 and section three is an open section where respondents write in the areas where they feel there is a need for training or further training.
Reliability of Instrument
A measurement is reliable if it reflects mostly true score, relative to the error. After having gathered the data from the 159 participants, a reliability test was done to ensure the quality of the questionnaire. The Cronbach‟s Alpha was used to test the reliability in this research. The
questionnaire consisted of 28 items. The questions were designed in two categories, one in relation to employee‟s job performance and the next on assessment of the training programs issued by SLASPA. The item numbers for questions in relation to job performance are (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5,
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Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15, Q16 and Q17). Questions in relation to training programs offered by SLASPA are (Q18, Q19, Q20, Q21, Q22, Q23, Q24, Q25, Q26, Q27 and Q28). To test reliability the researcher used SPSS 19. In Table 3.1, it indicated high internal consistency based on the alpha reliability of all items combined, 0.938 (28 items), the 17 items based on employees performance and the Cronbach‟s Alpha for the 11 items on training offered by SlASPA. The Cronbach‟s Alpha for individual items in the questionnaire is in Table 3.2.
Table 3.1.
Cronbach’s Alpha for Questionnaire Items
Cronbach‟s Alpha N. of items
Questionnaire .938 28
Job Performance .945 17
Training .810 11
Table 3.2
Cronbach’s Alpha for Individual Questionnaire Items
Cronbach‟s Alpha N. of items
Q1
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Coding System Used in SPSS
Demographic Data Coding System
Gender 1=Male
Work Experience Data was entered into SPSS
Employee Level 1=Administrative Employees
2=Low Level Employees
Once the data was collected, it was prepared for data analysis. This was done by coding each response with a number sequence. Once this process was completed, the data was keyed into SPSS. The questionnaire had open responses for age and work experience. For the purpose of presentation, age and work experience were put into categories to save space. Many respondents were between the age of 23-29, 30-35 and 36 and above. There were for groups. The same procedure followed for work experience but was categorized in four groups.
In order to test for differences, the data was then inputted into the Software Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 19.0.Table 3.3 shows the coding system used in creating the SPSS file. In SPSS, the data was then cleaned by running frequencies on all tested variables. This process helped in identifying mistakes for example it helped in removing numbers such as 44 and 55 instead of 4 and 5.
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Descriptive Statistics were then run on the demographic data items of gender, age, education, marital status, working experience and employee level. This was done to give the researcher more information about the data that was collected from the sample population. The descriptive statistics also helped the researcher to arrange the data into a more interpretable form by forming the frequency distributions, graphic displays and by calculating numerical indexes such as averages.
In order to understand the characteristics of each group and the relationships between or among the groups, the following methods were used, descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, t-test and one way anova. Also a document analysis was used to answer research questions one and two. This data was made available by the manager of the Human Resource of SLASPA.
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