Truck drivers have been involved in numerous road accidents in the US. It has been suggested by the Federal Highway Administration that additional training will increase the effectiveness of truck drivers, thereby improving their safety records. This study intends to test this assertion. In order to test this assertion a sample of 34 drivers, who were randomly selected from Mercer Transportation company, were asked their perception on whether they had the necessary training to effectively perform their duties. The data that was collected is in the appendices. The pretest and post test groups were then analyzed using the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed-rank test. The research findings indicated that there was a significant difference in drivers’ perceptions of whether they have the necessary training to perform their duties before or after an additional training program at 95% confidence level. The implication of this finding is that trucking companies should offer additional training to their truck drivers in order to improve safety records. The government could ensure that trucking companies offer additional training to their truck drivers by making it mandatory.
Large trucks are overrepresented in fatal accidents in the USA. In the year 2000, large trucks accounted for only 4% of traffic volume in the US. However, they accounted for 13% of the total amount of fatal accidents. To reduce the number of safety violations by truck drivers, it has been suggested by FHWA that drivers should be accorded proper training programs and offered additional training programs. Under US traffic laws, once a driver has received his or her commercial driving license, he or she is not required to undergo any additional training. There is also no legislation requiring trucking companies to offer additional training to their drivers. Therefore, any additional training offered to truck drivers is at the discretion of the trucking company. However, numerous trucking companies are reluctant to offer additional training because of the cost implications. It is estimated that additional training to a single commercial truck driver would cost an average of between $ 4,000 and $6,000.
Trucking companies have argued that offering additional training to drivers will have no difference in the perception of drivers on whether they have the necessary training or not. To this end, this study seeks to examine if there is a difference in drivers’ perceptions on whether they have the necessary training necessary to perform their duties before or after an additional training program.
Research Problem
Large trucks in the US are overrepresented in fatal accidents in the USA. It has been suggested that drivers should be accorded proper training programs and offered additional training programs. However, there has been mixed reaction on the effectiveness of additional training programs on the perception of drivers on whether they have appropriate training to perform their duties.
Research Purpose
The purpose of this psychology laboratory experiment is to determine whether there is a difference in drivers’ perceptions on whether they have the necessary training necessary to perform their duties before or after an additional training program.
Significance of the study
Road safety is a principal concern of both government agencies, private sector organization as well private citizens. This has far reaching implication to both families of the deceased and the society at large. Fatal accidents have monetary implications as well. There are hospital bills to be paid, new vehicles to replace the ones that have been written off, compensation paid to families of the bereaved among others. Insurance costs are also directly proportional to the number of accidents that occur. Therefore, any study aimed at improving road safety will benefit the government, private organizations and private citizens as well.
Research question
The research question for this study was;
What is the effect of an additional training program on whether drivers believe they have the necessary training to perform their duties?
Hypotheses
This study consisted of a null and alternate hypothesis
The null hypothesis (H0) was;
There is no difference in drivers’ perceptions of whether they have the necessary training necessary to perform their duties before or after an additional training program.
The alternate hypothesis (HA) was;
There is a difference in drivers’ perceptions of whether they have the necessary training necessary to perform their duties before or after an additional training program.
RESEARCH DESIGN
A quantitative research design is presumed to the best approach to address the research question. Quantitative design will be suited to examine the relationship between the variables and to answer the research question based on hypothesis testing. The principal inquiry strategy will be experimental approach using survey method to assess the perception of drivers on whether they have the necessary training to effectively perform their duties. A selected sample of respondents was asked to fill a questionnaires regarding whether they felt they have the necessary training. They were then taken through a four weeks’ training program after which they are expected to complete the same questionnaire. The data to be collected is qualitative. Therefore, the data was ranked using the five-point Likert-type scale to enable quantitative analysis. The data was not standardized because nonparametric tests were used. Nonparametric tests do not assume that the data is normally distributed.
There are two independent variables which are the pretest and posttest groups. Pretest group results are the results obtained before the additional training while posttest group results are the results obtained from the same group after additional training. There is only one dependent variable which is the degree to which respondents agree or disagree to the survey question. Experimental manipulation was a source of noise that needed to be controlled. Inter observer reliability and intra observer reliability test were used to control experimental manipulation.
Sample selection
The population of interest comprises of all truck drivers in the US. However, data was only collected from drivers of Mercer Transportation Company. Mercer Transportation Company is a US transportation company that provides trucking services to the US government and other government departments, consumer electronics dealers, automotive parts suppliers, and other clients requiring dependable handling and Delivery. The Company has its corporate office in Louisville, KY with more than 85 local offices in the US and Canada. The company has 980 drivers. Like all US trucking companies, Mercer Transportation has experienced a numerous safety violations.
All drivers of the company are eligible to participate in the study irrespective of the length of service, gender, age, race or other characteristics. A sample of 30 drivers was drawn from the population using simple random sampling. Drivers were randomly selected using their employee ID numbers. Participation in the study was voluntary. The selected drivers were not mandated to participate in this study and were free to withdraw from the study at any time without any repercussions.
Data collection
Survey method was used to collect data. Drivers were asked whether they believed they had the necessary training to perform their duties. The survey was given to drivers before and after going through the additional training program. The survey question was: “I have the necessary training to perform my duties.”The drivers were asked to rate their agreement with a statement using a five-point Likert-type scale:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
The data descriptors are in appendix A while the data collected data is in appendix B.
Ethical considerations
The study was conducted with the permission of both the sampled drivers and Mercer Transportation Company. Participation by the truck drivers was also on a voluntary basis. Respondents were informed on the purpose of the study and how the information collected will be useful. During analysis of data care was taken in order to avoid misrepresentation of the data collected and the researcher’s personal bias.
Data Analysis
This test used nonparametric test because the data collected entails ranked responses. Therefore the data is non-numerical and is not normally distributed. The data was analyzed using the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed-rank test to obtain the p-value to determine if it is statistically significant. This test is appropriate because non-numeric data was used, the test involved comparing two groups and the measurements were taken from the same group of drivers before and after the additional training program. The study also used descriptive statistics to analyze the data that was collected. The significance level used is 5% while the confidence level was 95%.The data set was analyzed using SPSS, statistical software.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
The research findings are in the SPSS output which is in appendix C.
Descriptive statistics results
The descriptive statistics comprised of median, mode frequency tables with percentages and bar graphs. Although the modes of the two pretest and post test groups are the same, the median of the pretest group is 2.5 whereas that of the posttest group is 3. The higher median of the posttest group means that drivers’ perception of whether they have the necessary training is generally higher after the additional training as compared to before the training.
Wilcoxon matched pairs’ signed-rank test results
The p-value from the SPSS output 0.027 with a z-score of -2.218. At a confidence level of 95 % and a significance level of 5%, the p-value obtained of 0.025 is statistically significant. We reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternate hypothesis that there is a difference in drivers’ perceptions of whether they have the necessary training necessary to perform their duties before or after an additional training program. In other words, there is a statistically significant difference in drivers’ perceptions of whether they have the necessary training necessary to perform their duties before and after the additional training program.
Almost similar findings were reported in a study the Federal Motors Carrier Safety Administration. The study was titled: “Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Retention and Safety. “ The research sought to evaluate factors that influenced the retention rate and safety records of commercial motor vehicle drivers. It was found out that not only was continuous training an important variable, a comprehensive training program is important if safety records and retention rate of drivers are to be improved.
There are some noteworthy limitations of this study. First, budget and time limitation made it impractical to ensure a truly representative sample. The subjects of this study were limited in number, limited to a single trucking company and were studied for very short period of time. Lastly, human responses are difficult to measure and are subject to individual bias.
Conclusion
Christensen, L. B., Johnson, R. B., & Turner, L. (2011). Research Methods, Design, and Analysis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall .
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (3, illustrated ed.). New York: Sage Publications.
Federal Highway Administration. (2002). Status of the Nation’s Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions and Performance. Washignton D.C: Federal Highway Administration.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (2003). Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Retention and Safety. Washington D.C: U.S Department of Transportation.
Gravetter, F. J., & Forzano, L.-A. B. (2011). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences (4 ed.). London: Cengage Learning.
Healey, J. F. (2011). Statistics: A Tool for Social Research (revised ed.). London: Cengage Learning.
Jackson, S. L. (2011). Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Thinking Approach (4 ed.). London: Cengage Learning.
Staplin, L., Lococo, H. K., & Decina, A. L. (2010). Training of Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers. New York: Transportation Research Board.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
Data descriptors
Employee ID: These are unique drivers’ identifiers between 5101 and 8199.
Gender: Male (0) or Female (1)
Data from responses to the survey before training:
Survey01 – Responses to the statement: “I have the training necessary to do my job.”
Data from responses to the survey after training:
Survey02 – Responses to the statement: “I have the training necessary to do my job.”
Codes for the five-point Likert-type scale are as follows:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
APPENDIX B
Data collected
Employee ID
APPENDIX C
SPSS Output
Mean Rank
Sum of Ranks
Survey02 - Survey01
Negative Ranks
Positive Ranks
a. Survey02 < Survey01 b. Survey02 > Survey01
c. Survey02 = Survey01
Test Statisticsb
Survey02 - Survey01
Z
-2.218a
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)
a. Based on negative ranks.
b. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test
Descriptive statistics
a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Bar Chart
