Outline the characteristics of positivism, its strengths and weaknesses. Outline the underpinning of philosophical assumptions and quantitative methodological paradigm

Experiences of work during the Covid-19 crisis in Lomond Insurance:
methods & statistical analysis.

Module: Business Research Methods RESE-1170

Assessment 2: Quantitative data analysis

Introduction:

This report outlines the methodology and statistical findings for a quantitative study on employees’ experiences of work at Lomond Insurance during the Covid-19 crisis. Lomond Insurance is a large shipping company, based at Canary Wharf, which insures marine vessels and their cargo. Since March 2020 employees based at Canary Wharf have worked from home, in response to the Covid-19 crisis and government guidance.

Since then, the executives at Lomond Insurance have proposed continuing “working-from-home” practices, and have commissioned research to investigate employees’ views of these proposals. A survey was designed and distributed to a sample of employees. The results of this survey were combined with HR data. This report presents the methodology of this research, presents a statistical analysis of findings, and offers some recommendations for the executives.

The quantitative approach: 200 words

Quantitative research is based on the philosophical approach known as positivism.

• Outline the characteristics of positivism, its strengths and weaknesses. Outline the underpinning of philosophical assumptions and quantitative methodological paradigm.

(Please write a sentence explain what positivism is, its strengths and weaknesses)

• Outline the characteristics of quantitative research, and its strengths and weaknesses.

(Please write a sentence on quantitative research explaining the strengths and weaknesses.)

Research design 150 words

Probability sample: Stratified Sampling

• Outline the stratified sample, What are the benefits and limitations of this approach? 
  Please explain that is a probability sampling.

Method of data collection 100 words

• Outline the method of data collection: Please explain this is a survey and what is a survey?
• This is a online survey.
• Why is this the best approach for this type of research? What are its limits and strengths.

Method of data analysis 200 words

Statistical analysis: a range of descriptive and inferential statistics (please explain what these are).

(WFH) work from home – descriptive statistics, mean, mode, standard deviation (please explain in detail).

3x independent samples students t-tests these were the relationship between WFH scores of men and women, management and non-management and caring and non-caring responsibilities.

Pearson correlation coefficient analysis to examine the relationship between WFH scores and extroversion scores,

Findings

The central tendencies of employees reported a mean score of 3.1 which suggest that the averages of employees at Lomond Insurance were neither satisfied nor unsatisfied working from home during the 9 months. This relates to the mode score of 5 which suggests that employees would like to continue working from home for part of their week going forward in the future.

Men and women

The hypothesis states that there is a difference between the two groups is due to random error so 99% that there is statistical difference.

The results show that there is a difference between men and women that their experience of working from home is slightly higher satisfaction than women. That difference is not statically different because there is a 14% difference this means between men and women is due to random error P value is 0.14

The conclusion is that there is a difference between the two only slightly.

Managers and non-managers

The hypothesis states that men are slightly satisfied working from home than women.

The results show that there is no difference in satisfaction scores of working from home as both scored a mean of M=3.1. p value is equal to 0.48 which shows there is a 48% chance that it is chosen due to random error, therefore is no statical significantly difference between managers and non-managers in their satisfaction from working from home as therefore we can reject the hypnosis that would suggest there is a difference between the two groups.

The conclusion is that there is no difference between the two only slightly.

Caring and non-caring responsibilities

The hypothesis states the value between employees with caring responsibilities and others without suggest a non-significant chance of it being due to random error.

The results those with caring responsibilities are dissatisfied compared to their colleagues who have non caring M=2,8 and those without caring duties M=3.6.

The conclusion is that those without caring responsibilities are more than with.

Correlation

The hypnosis the score of r -0.76 suggests a strong negative relationship between extroversion and work from home satisfaction.

The results therefore implies that employees with low extroversion scores enjoyed working from home compared to the high extroversion employees who were strongly dissatisfied with working from home.

The conclusion is that low extroversion enjoyed working from than the high extroversion.

Conclusions 500 words

• What conclusions can you draw from this analysis?
• Link your findings to at least one academic journal article, briefly showing how your findings relate to the wider literature. This might be a journal paper on the long-term consequences of working from home, measures of introversion/extroversion, etc.
• What recommendations would you make to the Executives? Consider your findings, what does the data tell us about what changes regarding working from home polices should happen at Lomond Insurance? These recommendations should be based on the evidence you have presented.