RESEARCH REVIEW

Research Review

Research Review

This research report draws a critical evaluation on the research study of Jennifer A. Rooney and Benjamin H. Gottlieb “Development and initial validation of a measure of supportive and unsupportive managerial behaviors”. This report attempts to critique and evaluate the various segments of this research namely the sample size adequately representing the recommendations and conclusions, the data generated and the evaluation of the participants, the general research design , the statistical inferences and whether the research attempts to deal adequately with the ethical issues regarding the research topic.

Study 1

Sample and Conclusions And Recommendations

This study used random selection for its sample. In most studies, access to the entire population is near on impossible; however, the results from studies with a carefully selected sample will reflect extremely closely those that would have been obtained had the population provided the data. Sampling therefore is a very important part of the business Research process. If a researcher has selected participants using an appropriate sampling technique, theycan be confident that their results will be generalized to the population in question. If the sample were biased in any way, for example, if the selection technique gave older people more of a chance of selection than younger people(Argyris Schon 1989), it would be inadvisable to make generalizations from the findings.

This study used rand sampling which means that each individual is chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process, and each subset of k individuals has the same probability of being chosen for the sample as any other subset of k individuals. This process and technique is known as simple random sampling, and should not be confused with Random Sampling. An unbiased random selection of individuals is important so that in the long run, the sample represents the population. However, this does not guarantee that a particular sample is a perfect representation of the population(Antaki 1988). Simple random sampling merely allows one to draw externally valid conclusions about the entire population based on the sample. Thus the study sample was adequate for the study. The sample was selected from two different organizations (a human services agency and a pharmaceutical company) in two different sectors (e.g., non-profit; for profit). This is the ideal choice as it is a 'perfect' random method. Using this method, individuals are randomly selected from a list of the population and every single individual has an equal chance of selection.

Sample Size

We proceed to the question of sample size. Twenty-five full-time employees participated, the majority of whom were female (84%). Over two-thirds of participants (68%) had female managers. Of the total sample, 44% were between the ages of 40 and 54; 12% were between the ages of 20 and 29; 36% were between the ages of 30 and 39, and 4% were 55 and above. Employees had been working in their current organization for an average of 8.7 years. The participants' occupations were varied and included administrative assistants, ...