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2| Page

1. Using two research institutes in the research will be a major

problem for the entire research process. There are various aspects
of a research process which are data collection instruments,
research scales, data analysis techniques, sample size, sampling
techniques, etc. When two institutes will get involved into a
research then there will be problems in deciding all these tools and
techniques. Both the institutes will have different opinion on all
these aspects and which will further cause confusion and waste of
time. For an instance the tow institutes are suggesting different
scales for the research. Now it is not possible to combine two types
of scales in one single research otherwise the results of the research
will get altered. It will be very necessary to come to consensus for
both the institutes. Similarly, there are a number of tools for the
analysis of the data and again both the institutes will have different
opinions about the selection of the tools. This will further affect the
results of the research. It is also mentioned in the situation that
sampling technique is also not uniform and all institutes are using
different techniques which can again put a question mark on the
entire research. In this way two institutes for a single research will
prove to be fatal for the final results of the research.
There are many problems of the involvement of the banks in the
research design and sampling. It has been noted that there are
around 69,000 employees working in the Belgian banks and the
institutes suggested that it is not possible to collect the data from all
of them. This is because of the fact that there is limited time and
limited budget. Due to this the committee of the research has
decided to collect the data from 15,000 employees. But the problem
here is that it was not decided whether it will be relative sampling or
absolute sampling. In this sample the small banks were over
represented. An ideal sample is the one which is represented by all
the respondents equally. Due to the random selection of the banks
this problem aroused. The sample shall be decided on the basis of
particular quota i.e. in accordance with the income, gender or
3| Page

employee level. This also affected the response rate. All the
elements of research design that are sampling technique, research
approach, data collection data and data analysis got affected
because of this.
2. The sample size in a research denotes the number of respondents
that will participate in a research. There are a number of methods to
determine the sample size for a research. These methods are
relative and absolute sample sizes. There are two major terms that
are necessary to mention while discussing about the sample size of
the research. These terms are true population value and confidential
interval. These terms help in deciding the absolute and relative
samples for a research. The true population value is the actual
value of a population parameter. This is something that an
investigator wishes to capture with the use of the research study
(Lushey, 2015). For an instance the absolute mean can be known for
this research by undertaking this example. The research institute
wants to know about the level o job satisfaction among employees
working in Belgian banks. The research committee also knows that
the true rate of job satisfaction is unlikely to exceed 20%. The
research committee wants to estimate the prevalence to within 5%
points of the true value with 95% confidence. Keeping in view all
these facts the sample size will be calculated as :
Anticipated population proportion: 20 %
Confidence level: 95%
Absolute precision: (15% -25%)
5 percentage points
For P = .20 and d= .05
The relative precision can be calculated with the help of another
method. In this the research committee expects that the level of job
satisfaction is not below 50% . The question here is that how many
employees must be studied if the estimate is to be fall within 10% of
the true proportion with confidence of 95%
The anticipated population here is 50 %
4| Page

Confidence level: 95%

Relative precision (from 45% to 55%)
In this manner the terms absolute precision is used by an
investigator when he wishes to determine the population parameter
to be within the defined percentage of true value, while relative
precision is used by an investigator when the investigator wishes to
ascertain the population parameter to be within the defined
percentage. The sample size for this research shall be more than
15,000 because the response rate is just 47.6%. This means that
around 7000 respondents have contributed to the research out of
69,000 employees which is very less. In this manner the sample size
shall be 28,000 employees.

3. Data collection in real social context is very crucial and significant

aspect of a research. The process of data collection gets affected by
various issues like time, budget and politics. It is very important for
a researcher to deal with these problems effectively to ethically
conduct the research practices. The effects of politics can be seen
on the decision made by the bank. While selecting a research
consortium the two highest bidders were asked to jointly undertake
the research. This is because of the reason that the employees
preferred one partner and the union preferred another. Due to the
preferences of employees and unions two bodies for research have
been made. The two bodies have different opinions about the
research aspects and due to that the research process also suffered.
This is about only one decision. Various other decisions in the
research have also been affected. The decision for sample size also
got affected because of the budget and the time. The research
committee had fixed budget and they had to finish the research in
that budge only. With this the time available with the researchers
was also less and they were willing to accomplish their research in
that particular time frame only. By keeping in mind these two
aspects the research committee has taken a fixed sample of 15,000.
5| Page

There is a way to determine the sample size but the committee did
not use any scientific method rather the decision was affected by
time and budget Except for these factors there were other decision
of research committee being affected by the politics and social
context (Birch, 2013) .Another example is of sending surveys in two
languages because of the difference in the societies and the not
able to reach the respondents and getting only 47% response at the
end because of the less efforts of some banks. This is how a
researcher has to make proper arrangements for the data collection
process by undertaking proper planning and make several
compliances that are required to be followed by all the stakeholders.
If the researcher wants to nullify the effects of politics then it is very
important to follow ethical research practices and also review them
from time to time. This way the decisions in the research will not get
affected because of the politics or any other aspect of social context.
4. The sampling method denotes a technique or a method that is
undertaken by a researcher to determine the size of the sample for
the purpose of the research. An optimum sample is the one that
depicts equal representation of the entire population. A population
is made up of various users and all of them belong to different
context. In the present study the population of the research is made
of employees working in Belgian banks. Now, there are some small
banks, medium banks and large banks. All the banks will have
different practices related to human resources and due to the
difference in the practices of the banks the level of job satisfaction
in all the banks will be different. To get the better results of the
research it is very important for a researcher to ensure that all the
employees or sample shall have equal representation from small
banks, medium banks and large banks. But in this research study,
the sample is overrepresented by small banks. This clearly shows
that the method of sampling used by the researcher is not a good
method. A good method never over-represents and aspect and at
the same time never under-represents any aspect. This will lead to
6| Page

wrong conclusions and the results of the research. The results of

this research may not have any implications o some banks. For an
instance the result suggested that the amount of people with stress
is 5 and 10 have no stress. This figure is totally deceptive. It may
also be possible that the employees working in small banks have
more stress than the employees working in large banks and the
employees working in large banks may be totally free from the
stress. Now when the results will arrive , the results will be applies
to all the banks because the researcher thinks that it is the opinion
of all the employees and this is why it is important to apply this
result on all the parties equally. In this way it is very important for a
researcher to adopt a significant technique for sampling so as to
ensure that the entire population is equally represented (Mantos,
2012) .The most popular and significant methods of sapling are
probability sampling and non-probability sampling in these types of
sampling techniques there are other sampling techniques like
snowball sampling, judgemental sampling, convenience sampling,
simple random sampling, stratified sampling, etc. It depends upon
the sample size and the purpose of the research that which
sampling technique will be the most suitable for the research so as
to determine the optimum sample for the study.

The major purpose with which the research has been undertaken is to find
the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction. The
biases in the study affect the data collection. The biases include random
selection of employees for the purpose of data collection; the employees
have not been selected on the basis of employee level, age or gender. For
the postal survey the employees were randomly selected and sent the
survey on their address given by the banks. The major problem that the
researchers had faced here is of the language. Belgium is the country with
two languages and the most significant bias here is of language bias. The
part population speak Flemish (Dutch) and part population speak French.
This is why the questionnaire was required to be prepared in these two
languages. The most notable point here is to translate it in such a way
7| Page

that the maintaining of the questions shall not get affected. It is important
to ensure the accuracy of the survey forms. The questionnaires were sent
to the home address if the respondent lived in French part then he is sent
a French erosion of the questionnaire and if the respondent lived in
Flanders then he is being sent the Flemish version of the questionnaire.
But many respondents received different versions. To reduce the bias it
was very important for the researcher to send make sure that the
employees are receiving the questionnaire in the correct language.
Moreover to reduce the biasness of the data it is also necessary for the
researchers to have it represented equally by the entire population
(MacKenzie & Scott, 2003) . The individual banks also undertook initiatives
to increase the response rate but it has been done by only a few banks
and due to that response rate from some banks was very good while from
other banks it was awful. The union campaigns also guided for certain
answers and forced employees to participate in the research. The bias in
data collection can be reduced by using the language that everyone can
easily understand, by ensuring equal representation and by making sure
that there is voluntary participation of the employees in the research.
BUACC5931 Assignment 1

Job Satisfaction in the Banking Industry

Job characteristics are believed to have an impact on stress and well-being at

work (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). The demands of the job on the one hand
and the extent to which you have control over your own activities (decision
latitude) on the other, are two factors which together define how stressful a
job is. Those jobs which are high demand, but offer limited control, are
considered to be high-strain and carry an increased risk of job dissatisfaction,
stress and burnout.

Based on this theoretical framework, the Union of Belgian Banks sent out a
research call to several institutions, with a bidding process based on criteria
such as quality of the proposal, timing, and – above all – budget. The aim of
the research was to carry out quantitative research to measure the
relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction in all Belgian
banks at individual level. But in order to do this effectively, several
methodological issues needed to be resolved during the research process.

First of all, a research consortium was selected to conduct the research, or

more precisely, the two highest ranked bidders were asked to jointly
undertake the research. This was the outcome of a political decision by the
banks (see also p. 142, ‘Affiliation and conflicts of interest’), since the
employers preferred one partner and the unions (employee representatives)
preferred the other. The two competing research institutes, a private
company specialising in stress at work and the Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven (Belgium), were required to co-operate and develop a level of trust in
order to conduct the research. For example, both research institutes had
different ideas as to which scale should be used in the questionnaire. They
could not just combine the scales or include both scales, simply because
they are supposed to measure the same concept. Furthermore, this would
also make the questionnaire too complex. Therefore, the research institutes
had to combine their knowledge, look for compromises and jointly work on a
shared vision, which is, to say the least, rather time consuming.

A second obstacle that needed to be overcome was the sample (see

Chapter 7). In total, 69,000 employees work for Belgian banks and it was
decided that questioning all employees would be too complicated and too
expensive. Therefore the research committee, consisting of representatives
of the banks, the unions and the research consortium, opted for a cross-
BUACC5931 Assignment 1

sectional design (p. 45) with a fixed sample of 15,000 employees (roughly
21%; see p. 187 ‘Absolute and relative sample size’).

In this sample, the small banks were over-represented. Within each bank, the
respondents were selected at random with no particular quota for gender,
age or employee level. In the postal survey (see p.231 ‘Self-completion
questionnaire or postal questionnaire’) several steps were taken to improve
the response rate (see p. 234 ‘Steps to improve response rates to postal
questionnaire’; see also suggestions by Dillman, 1983). The survey was
based on addresses which had been provided by the banks (name, language,
address) and each employee randomly selected in the sample received a
personalized envelope through regular mail, sent to him/her by the employer.
The completed questionnaire needed to be returned (free of charge) through
the internal post within each bank.

There are various logistical problems. The researchers had to travel to

each bank to collect the completed questionnaires and due to the fact that in
Belgium, part of the population speak Flemish (Dutch) and part speak French,
two versions of the questionnaire needed to be available and then carefully
translated and tested for the accuracy of their translation (see also Tips and
skills, p.488: ‘Translating interview data’). The questionnaires were sent to
the respondents’ home addresses, a French version if the respondent lived in
the French part of Belgium, a Flemish version when living in Flanders. This
prompted a series of angry calls when Flemish people, living in the French
part, or vice versa, received a questionnaire that was not in their native
language. Furthermore, Brussels is officially bi-lingual and, to complicate
matters even more, contains many headquarters in which the main language
spoken is ... English! In order to minimise attrition, it was important that
these respondents received a questionnaire in their preferred language.
Another logistical issue was the co-ordination and control of the distributed
information. The Belgian banks, who were the research financers, chose a
decentralised way of working, hence organizing a ‘sensibilization campaign’
within each bank whereby the researchers had to visit all the banks to
explain the theoretical framework and the outline of the research to
representatives of both employers and employees.

Additional initiatives to prompt a higher response rate were taken up by

individual banks, or, more precisely, by some of the banks. The researchers
were required to carefully follow-up on those initiatives implemented by the
banks, to ensure that these initiatives remained both neutral and valid for
the research. Some of these initiatives proved difficult to deal with due to
BUACC5931 Assignment 1

the selective use of information that had been employed (e.g. letters forcing
the employees to participate; or union campaigns to guide certain answers).
Hence, the researchers had to be sensitive for the respective organisational
cultures, while making sure they kept a neutral position towards all partners
involved in the research.

Once the data collection was completed (response rate of 47.6%), the data
handling needed much attention. A comprehensive check and double-check
was conducted on wrong entries, filters, missing cells ... just to increase the
reliability. One issue was the major difference in response rate between the
banks. Due to a strong campaign, some banks reached a response rate of
over 60%, whilst others barely reached 20% because they did nothing to
increase the response rate.

A final issue occurred when presenting the results. As mentioned above,

the language issue is particularly important in Belgium to the extent that one
even has to be concerned with the order of reporting and presenting (in
terms of which language first).

A discussion arose concerning the graphs used in the report: using different
axes can result in different perspectives, despite the fact that, statistically,
the results obviously remain the same. In both figures below, the amount of
people with stress is 5, whereas 10 have no stress. So the appearances can
be deceptive.
Instructions for answering the questions

Use at least four academic sources in English (a minimum of three must be

peer reviewed journal articles and the fourth may be another journal article,
a text book or a report published by the relevant government bodies) to
support your answers of the questions. The analysis of the case study will
include around 2000 words in total, around 400 words for each question. This
includes utilised academic sources as well as responding to the questions.

Q1: Research consortium and involvement of the financers (banks)

in research: What are the problems of using two research institutions to do
the research jointly? What are the problems of the involvement of the banks
in the research design and sampling?

Q2: Sample size: Is this sample size of 15,000 (roughly 21% of the
employees) necessary? Discuss its relative and absolute size. What do you
suggest the sample size.

Q3: Data collection in a real social context. Since this is data collection
in a real social context, issues such as time, budget and politics are
important. How would you deal with them? Discuss some of the decisions
the researchers have made.

Q4: Sampling method. The goal of the research is to find the relationship
between job characteristics and job satisfaction. Every bank was surveyed.
The small banks were over-represented in the sample. Is the sampling
method for answering the research questions a good one?

Q5: Bias in data collection. The purpose of this study is to find the
relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction. What are the
biases in data collection? How can you reduce the bias in the data collection?

Adapted from: Bryman, A and Bell, E. (2011). Business Research Methods,

New York: Oxford University Press