research topic - Relationship between remuneration and performance in the organization

3.7 Pilot study Define the term pilot study and explain the benefits/importance of conducting a pilot study.

Discuss how many participants were targeted for the pilot study.

For a quantitative study, the questionnaire should have been piloted on a sample of 10 participants.

For qualitative studies, the interview questions should have been piloted using 1- 2 participants.

3.8 Reliability and validity (Quantitative)/ Trustworthiness (Qualitative) (select one in alignment with the selected research methodology) For a quantitative study discuss the following: Validity and Reliability Validity and reliability deal with measurement quality.

Validity addresses the issue of whether the researcher is actually measuring what he/she has set out to measure.

There are four specific criteria of validity each of which the researcher would ideally want to establish for the research instrument prior to administering it for the actual study. You will discuss how the four specific criteria for validity were considered in the questionnaire construction. These include:

Construct validity identifies how well the research instrument measures the components of the research that it is meant to measure.

Content validity determines the degree to which the research instrument addresses the components of the study and the research topic.

Criterion-related validity determines how well the questions used in the research instrument measure the outcomes of the study.

Face validity is a simple form of validity where you apply a superficial and subjective assessment of whether or not your study or test measures what it is supposed to measure Reliability of a research instrument refers to the consistency or repeatability of the measurement of the phenomena.

There are four criteria for reliability. Discuss how these criteria for reliability were used in the questionnaire construction, as seen below.

Parallel forms of reliability is a measure of reliability obtained by administering different versions of an assessment/ research tool (both versions must contain items that probe the same construct, skill, knowledge base, etcetera) to the same group of individuals.

Test-retest reliability addresses the rigour of the research instrument by testing the same research instrument twice over the same period of time.

Internal consistency reliability determines how regularly the same answer is provided, particularly when measuring a specific variable. The consistency of the same response shows a reliability of the test.

Inter-rater reliability address the degree of agreement among the respondents.

For a qualitative study, you are required to discuss the trustworthiness of the study.

Criteria for Trustworthiness:

Credibility addresses how reliable the information provided in the study is. This is determined by ensuring that the sources of the information provided are reliable, in terms of peer-reviewed and accredited sources.

Transferability this determines the degree to which the results of the study can be generalized to another context or setting, when the concepts of the study are similar.

Dependability addresses the rigour of the data and results of the study through various challenges, like changes that occur through time.

Confirmability refers to how consistent the results of the study are with those of other reliable authors. You compare the results of the study with those of other studies to identify if the results are in-line with those of the other studies.