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Book part
Publication date: 30 December 2004

Ross R. Vickers

Constructing and evaluating behavioral science models is a complex process. Decisions must be made about which variables to include, which variables are related to each other, the…

Abstract

Constructing and evaluating behavioral science models is a complex process. Decisions must be made about which variables to include, which variables are related to each other, the functional forms of the relationships, and so on. The last 10 years have seen a substantial extension of the range of statistical tools available for use in the construction process. The progress in tool development has been accompanied by the publication of handbooks that introduce the methods in general terms (Arminger et al., 1995; Tinsley & Brown, 2000a). Each chapter in these handbooks cites a wide range of books and articles on specific analysis topics.

Details

The Science and Simulation of Human Performance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-296-2

Article
Publication date: 26 April 2013

Erastus Karanja and Jigish Zaveri

MIS researchers have consistently adopted survey‐based research method while investigating MIS and related phenomenon, making survey‐based research method one of the widely used…

1121

Abstract

Purpose

MIS researchers have consistently adopted survey‐based research method while investigating MIS and related phenomenon, making survey‐based research method one of the widely used research method in MIS research. This study seeks to revisit some of the inherent characteristics of survey‐based research method with the aim of improving the quality, replication, and validation of results in MIS survey‐based studies. Additionally, this study provides information on the most prevalent analytical and statistical tools used in MIS survey research studies.

Design/methodology/approach

In this research, the authors adopt the content analysis technique. The choice of content analysis is premised on the desire to investigate the sources of survey data, units of analysis, research methods, and statistical tools used in MIS research with the aim of improving empirical research in the MIS discipline.

Findings

The results show the prevalent sources of data, the dominant units of analysis, the most commonly used analytical research methods, and the statistical tools adopted by many MIS researchers. The results indicate that many MIS researchers get their data from US sources, although researchers are increasingly acquiring data from other countries. Also, the results reveal that most MIS survey researchers are using SEM, LISREL, and PLS statistical methods and tools.

Practical implications

The paper concludes with recommendations and implications on how to inform and retool upcoming and existing researchers on the current and future MIS research tools and methods. Editors should ensure that MIS researchers provide as much information as possible about the sources of data, the dominant units of analysis, the analytical research methods used, and the statistical tools adopted; these will demonstrate the rigor of the research process and enable replication, validation, and extension of the research works.

Originality/value

The paper presents the results of a content analysis of 749 survey‐based research articles published between 1990 and 2010 in nine mainstream MIS Journals. Prior studies have broadly addressed aspects of MIS research methodologies like investigating MIS research methods, ranking them, and generated a taxonomy of MIS research methodology. The results of this study make a case for the reporting of, both, the analytical method(s) and statistical tools used by MIS researchers to aid in replicating, validating, and extending the resultant findings of their survey‐based research.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2017

Jin Zhang, Yanyan Wang and Yuehua Zhao

The statistical method plays an extremely important role in quantitative research studies in library and information science (LIS). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the…

1385

Abstract

Purpose

The statistical method plays an extremely important role in quantitative research studies in library and information science (LIS). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of statistical methods used in the field, their application areas and the temporal change patterns during a recent 15-year period.

Design/methodology/approach

The research papers in six major scholarly journals from 1999 to 2013 in LIS were examined. Factors including statistical methods, application areas and time period were analyzed using quantitative research methods including content analysis and temporal analysis methods.

Findings

The research studies using statistical methods in LIS have increased steadily. Statistical methods were more frequently used to solve problems in the information retrieval area than in other areas, and inferential statistical methods were used more often than predictive statistical methods and other statistical methods. Anomaly analysis on statistical method uses was conducted and four types of anomaly were specified.

Originality/value

The findings of this study can help educators, graduates and researchers in the field of LIS better understand the patterns and trends of the applications of statistical methods in this field, depict an overall picture of quantitative research studies in LIS from the perspective of statistical methods and discover the change patterns of statistical method applications in LIS between 1999 and 2013.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 35 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2016

Jin Zhang, Yuehua Zhao and Yanyan Wang

Quantitative methods, especially statistical methods, play an increasingly important role in research of library and information science (LIS). For different journals, the uses of…

1447

Abstract

Purpose

Quantitative methods, especially statistical methods, play an increasingly important role in research of library and information science (LIS). For different journals, the uses of statistical methods vary substantially due to different journal scopes and aims. The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics of statistical methodology uses in six major scholarly journals in LIS.

Design/methodology/approach

Research papers that used statistical methods from the six major journals were selected and investigated. Content analysis method, descriptive statistical analysis method, and temporal analysis method were used to compare and analyze statistical method uses in research papers of the investigated journals.

Findings

The findings of this study show that there was a clear growth trend of statistical method uses in five of the investigated journals; statistical methods were used most in The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology and Information Processing & Management; and the top three most frequently used statistical methods were t-test, ANOVA test, and χ2-test.

Originality/value

The findings can be used to better understand the application areas, patterns, and trends of statistical methods among the investigated journals and their statistical methodology orientations in research studies of LIS.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 40 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 November 2014

Moses Acquaah

The purpose of this study is to review the literature on strategic management in Africa with special emphasis on how strategy constructs have been measured and present a roadmap…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to review the literature on strategic management in Africa with special emphasis on how strategy constructs have been measured and present a roadmap to help improve strategy research in Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis of empirical research on strategic management published in journals using data from Africa from 2000 to 2013 is conducted to examine construct measurement practices.

Findings

The findings indicate that the average sample sizes in strategy research in Africa is not large as strategy research in general, and have low statistical power. While the studies rely heavily on single-indicator measures, there were also several studies using scale or multiple measures that report reliabilities.

Research limitations

Limitations of the research include small number of studies used, inability to examine journal effects’ of the findings due to few numbers of papers from many of the journals, and lack of examination of the influence of the context and topical areas of the articles on the use of the construct measurement techniques.

Practical implications

The study provides information about the use of construct measurement techniques and power analysis in strategy research in Africa. It further encourages the use of larger sample sizes, the examination of power, and more focus on variables which allow the assessment of reliabilities and validity.

Originality and value

Little is known about construct measurement practices of the empirical research in and about Africa in the discipline of strategic management. This chapter builds on extant research on construct measurement issues in strategic management research, but with the unique value-added contribution of focusing on the African environment where the discipline is beginning to take hold.

Details

Advancing Research Methodology in the African Context: Techniques, Methods, and Designs
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-489-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 April 2015

Amanar Akhabbar

This chapter provides a presentation about Chapter 1 of The Balance of the National Economy, 192324, edited by Pavel Illich Popov. The Balance was issued in June 1926 by the…

Abstract

This chapter provides a presentation about Chapter 1 of The Balance of the National Economy, 192324, edited by Pavel Illich Popov. The Balance was issued in June 1926 by the Central Statistical Administration (CSU or TsSU) of the USSR, which Popov had headed from July 1918 to January 1926. In the first part of our chapter, we show how Popov’s work on the balance of the national economy was rooted in the specific scientific and political culture of zemstvo statisticians inherited from the Tsar. Statistical inquiry was considered an objective scientific process based on international standards. Furthermore, like zemstvo statisticians, CSU statisticians developed great autonomous political power. The balance of the national economy was built according to these principles, which met harsh criticism from revolutionaries and Bolsheviks. In the second part, we analyze the contents of Popov’s Chapter 1, especially the theoretical foundations of the balance and its connection with Soviet planning. In the third part, we discuss the balance’s significance in the years 1926–1929, years which ended the NEP and launched the first Five-Year Plan, so as to understand how CSU’s balance didn’t become a standard Soviet statistical instrument and was discarded as a “bourgeois” device.

Book part
Publication date: 10 July 2006

Thomas E. Scruggs, Margo A. Mastropieri and Kelley S. Regan

Single subject research has long been employed to evaluate intervention effectiveness with students with learning or behavioral disabilities. Typically, the results of single…

Abstract

Single subject research has long been employed to evaluate intervention effectiveness with students with learning or behavioral disabilities. Typically, the results of single subject research are presented on graphic displays and analyzed by a method of visual inspection, in which analysts simultaneously consider such data elements as level change, slope change, and variability in baseline and treatment data. However, over the years several concerns regarding visual inspection have emerged, including relatively low inter-rater reliabilities. This chapter reviews the arguments in favor of visual inspection as an analytic tool, and also summarizes the arguments favoring statistical analysis of single case data. The use of randomization tests is recommended, and an example is provided of its use in research with students with learning and behavioral disorders.

Details

Applications of Research Methodology
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-295-5

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1994

Andrew Robson

Undertakes a comparative study of the statistical capability of threespreadsheets which are commonly used in the business sector. Thespreadsheets considered are Lotus 1‐2‐3…

1450

Abstract

Undertakes a comparative study of the statistical capability of three spreadsheets which are commonly used in the business sector. The spreadsheets considered are Lotus 1‐2‐3, Microsoft Excel and Quattro Pro. Considers five areas of statistical analysis regularly used by business decision makers (rather than specialist personnel). In order to obtain an objective measure of the statistical provision of each spreadsheet, comparison has also been made with dedicated statistical software regularly used by business decision makers, namely MINITAB. By making this comparison, argues that the spreadsheet is not only a tool for analysis, but also for presentation. Moreover, considers that two spreadsheets in particular, namely Excel and Quattro Pro, offer a user‐friendly statistical provision which should be sufficient for most business decision makers.

Details

Logistics Information Management, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-6053

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2005

Joan G. Haworth, Janet R. Thornton and Paul F. White

The recent “reverse”1 discrimination decisions by the Supreme Court involving the admissions decision-making policies at the University of Michigan2 illustrate the underlying need…

Abstract

The recent “reverse”1 discrimination decisions by the Supreme Court involving the admissions decision-making policies at the University of Michigan2 illustrate the underlying need for private and public entities to justify the need to reach or maintain diversity within an organization. Clearly, the equality of the decision-making methodology and criteria used to obtain and maintain diversity was an issue, but perhaps more pressing was the question of whether such programs were necessary. The issue of parity is at the very center of these cases. If the normal admissions process would have resulted in obtaining the predicted number of minority admissions then there may no longer be a need for such programs. While the university cases have been most publicized recently, matters involving affirmative action plans and governmental programs to enhance diversity (such as minority contractor set-asides) face similar questions of parity.

Details

Developments in Litigation Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-385-3

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2016

Greggory L. Keiffer and Forrest C. Lane

This paper aims to introduce matching in propensity score analysis (PSA) as an alternative statistical approach for researchers looking to make causal inferences using intact…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to introduce matching in propensity score analysis (PSA) as an alternative statistical approach for researchers looking to make causal inferences using intact groups.

Design/methodology/approach

An illustrative example demonstrated the varying results of analysis of variance, analysis of covariance and PSA on a heuristic data set. The three approaches were compared by results and violations of statistical assumptions.

Findings

Through the illustrative example, it is demonstrated how different statistical approaches can produce varied results. Only PSA mitigated pre-existing group differences without violating the assumption of independence.

Originality/value

This paper attempts to answer calls in the literature for more robust statistical methodologies to better inform human resource development practice and theory.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 40 no. 8/9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

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