Ethical considerations
This survey will seek to engage different stakeholders within organizations to capture their understanding of the concept of organizational stress and the factors within the organization that influence or affect organizational stress. Ethics is a representation of the norms that are expected of a researcher when conducting any form of research (Serekan, 2000). Ethics offers the guidelines that the researchers should adhere to when designing and implementing their research design. In the scholarly world, ethics play a significant role and especially when research involves human subjects. This inquiry on organizational stress will make use of human subjects, implying that ethics will be critical. Ethics will be necessary to protect all the participants involved in the study, given the weight of the questions being asked.
Sample population
The researcher will employ convenience sampling in selecting the participants of this study. Convenience sampling in this respect refers to a sampling design that researchers purposively select respondents informed by specified dimensions (Gravetter & Forzano, 2011). This is a standard approach in research, where researchers identify the specific dimensions in their respondents that are helpful in realizing the research goals. The researcher, therefore, chose to pick individuals who are already involved in organizations. The survey settled on one particular organization, a factor that provided a narrower focus for the exercise. This kind of focus was advantageous especially regarding the time and financial limitations.
The researcher will, therefore, use 15 respondents, which is a manageable sample size. The sample size will be selected while considering the fact that the response rate of the study may not be 100%. The sample size will, therefore, be enough to insure the survey against the low response rates. The selected individuals will be informed of the different questions posed in the questionnaire, the importance of giving honest answers and returning the questionnaire. The respondents will be given two days to return the questionnaires, with an extra day granted to the respondents unable to beat the deadline. The responses returned within the three days will be considered for analysis.
Data analysis summary
The data analysis portion of the study will be made up of two major components. The first section of the analysis will involve the preliminary analysis of the data and screening of the data. Screening the data will include the identification of whether the responses offered meet the right standards. This will be essential in maintaining the reliability and validity of the inferences made from the study. Besides, the preliminary analysis of the data will involve the description of the demographic characteristics of the respondents and the overall primary information of the interviewees.
The analysis of the data will also include the conducting of a factor analysis of the different factors influencing organizational stress. To this end, a factor analysis of the following aspects will be considered: organizational structure, rapid technological development, growing demand to employees and serious mistakes in leadership management. Factor analysis is singled out as an appropriate method that aids in the identification of the relationships present between various variables (Schumacker & Lomax, 2016). Through factor analysis, the researcher will be able to identify of the correlation between the four factors and organizational stress.
Measurement strategy
A championed approach to measurement in research is the identification of the primary variables that influence each other is a study (Gravetter & Forzano, 2011). Having established that four factors that define and affect organizational stress. The four factors hypothesized to influence organizational stress include organizational structure, rapid technological development, growing demand to employees and serious mistakes in leadership management. Questions geared towards the validation of the four point hypothesis will be included in the questionnaire. Here, the respondents will be questioned on their perceptions regarding the four factors. Their responses will be used to validate the hypothesis that the four elements are at the center of defining organizational stress. To this end, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) will be essential in the measurement and validation process of the research.
Data interpretation
In regards to the interpretation of data obtained from the study, the researcher will use the insight obtained through data analysis to co0me up with inferences from the study. The researcher will analyze each factor hypothesized to contribute to organizational stress independently. First, the interpretation will consider the validity in the argument that organizational structure is an element that informs the occurrence of organizational stress. To this end, the research will rely on the results of the analysis, which will point out the validity of the hypothesis. This will be realized through the set of questions posed in the questionnaire, which gauge the level of agreement of the respondents with the hypothesis.
The interpretation will then shift to the role that rapid changes in technology and the overall technological development within an organization plays in breeding organizational stress. The interpretation will be based on the results of the analysis, which will reveal whether the respondents view rapid technological development as a valid factor contributing to organizational culture. The process of data interpretation will then consider the third aspect, which is the growth in the demands that employers have of their employees. As mentioned in the first two factors, the results of the data analysis will be essential in drawing inferences regarding this particular factor. The data analysis results will provide the insight on whether the mentioned factor duly contributes to the occurrence of organizational stress.
The interpretation will then look into the perception that respondents have regarding the mistakes made by the leadership, and how they contribute to the creation of organizational stress. The factor will be deemed relevant if the respondents agree with the notion that the mistakes made by the management lead to the creation of organizational stress. An important factor to note in the data interpretation section will be the aspect of tying the results of the analysis to the empirical evidence on organization stress. The goal, here, will be to establish where the results of the survey lie in relative to the scholarly evidence on the same topic. The interpretation will also look into the implications that the findings of the study have to organizational practice, and how stakeholders can use the insight gained from the survey to optimize organizational performance.
References
Gravetter, F., & Forzano, L.-A. (2011). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences (4 ed.). London: Cengage Learning.
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches. SAGE Publications.
Schumacker, R., & Lomax, R. (2016). A Beginner's Guide to Structural Equation Modeling: (Fourth Edition ed.). London: Routledge.
Serekan, U. (2000). Research Methods for Business: A Skill-Building Approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
