Assignment: Qualitative Data Analysis

You have been assigned the following task: Qualitative Data Analysis. Using data found in Safety Training Program – Qualitative Questionnaire Responses (attached). Identify the major themes and patterns that emerge from the narrative comments of qualitative data from an open-ended survey in which individuals were all asked questions related to a new training program that was put into place to improve new employee engagement in the organization’s safety culture and understanding of organizational policies related to safety. Provide a high-quality APA formatted narrative that presents “Results,” “Conclusions,” and “Recommendations” sections based on the qualitative data provided.

 

Background

In this situation, the organization’s Chief Management Officer sent an email to the HR Director that asked, “Are people really feeling empowered in our on-boarding training that they can speak up about unsafe practices in the workplace on day 1?”

The HR Director already had an on-boarding training that addressed organizational policies and safety but bolstered the curriculum to emphasize the safety culture.

The HR Director later contacted our organization to collect and analyze data from a three-day new employee training program that focused on the following stated goals for the student:

1. Comprehend the organization’s zero-mishap safety culture.
2. Know how each individual has a role in their daily practices at work to ensure his/her own safety as well as that of co-workers and clients.
3. Apply organizational values to the safety culture; don’t be afraid to speak up and say, “Knock it off!” when safety is at risk.
4. Know where to find more information on our safety dashboard and how to get help from your supervisor.

When we came aboard to do the analysis, our focus was to collect data addressing the concerns stated by the organization’s Chief Management Officer about the organization’s culture as it related to safety.

Our problem statement was:

The problem to be addressed by this assessment is the impact of the organization’s training program on the initial safety culture are unknown.  The CMO is unsure if new employees feel empowered to confront and mitigate unsafe practices in the workplace starting on the first day on the job.

Our intent statement was:

The purpose of this assessment is to qualitatively evaluate the new training program by using open-ended interview style questions to gain perspective from new employees attending training.  The goal is to gain a rich understanding from the trainees on their feelings about their role in the safety culture of the organization.

Our overarching research question was:

To what extent do new employees understand the organization’s safety policies and feel empowered to mitigate safety risk by following those policies, including confronting unsafe situations?

Data Collection and Analysis Plan

With a time limit of two weeks to gather and analyze data, we conducted the assessment after one iteration of the new training.  We provided a five-question open-ended questionnaire to the eight participants. The results, in an individual response and aggregate form, are found in Safety Training Program – Qualitative Questionnaire Responses (Attahed). 

 

Task Specifics

Identify the major themes and patterns that emerge from the narrative comments of qualitative data from an open-ended survey.

Provide a high-quality APA formatted narrative that presents “Results,” “Conclusions,” and Recommendations” sections based on the qualitative data provided.  These sections should address the following:

• Results
  • For qualitative projects, provide a rich narrative synthesizing the major themes and patterns found in the data analysis.
  • This section should be about 4-5 paragraphs.
• Conclusions:
  • What are the conclusions based on your results?
  • Were there limitations that affected the study?
    • Summarize how your conclusions resolve the research question, meet the intent of your research, and finally how the conclusions resolve part of all of the research questions. This section should be 2-3 paragraphs.
• Recommendations:
  • Based upon the conclusions, what are the recommendations?
  • What are the recommendations for replicating this research (e.g., what changes should be made?)?
  • What are the recommendations for future research that would complement this study?
  • This section should be 2-3 paragraphs.