Data Collection in an Organization

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The National Association of Health (NAH) is planning to implement some changes to address the turnover in their organization recently, but first they need to understand what is causing the turnover. Therefore, they need to understand the scope of the issue, what is causing staff to leave and what the organization can do regarding the attrition. To do this the organization needs to get information from existing staff and staff that have recently left the organization. There are several different methods to collect the data that NAH will need and it is important to use the correct method when obtaining this information.

Data Collection Tools

According to Cummings and Worley (2009), there are four types of data collection tools that can be used which are surveys, interviews, observations, and unobtrusive measures. They all have their strengths and weakness and determining which tool is needed is very important to making sure you have reliable data to move forward from.

Surveys

There are several different types of surveys and questionnaires that can be used to collect data. The most common is the electronic survey because it can be given to a lot of people quickly and is viewed as more anonymous. However, there are some draw backs with surveys. According to Marril (n.d.), surveys can elicit responses that are socially acceptable instead of the truth. In addition, surveys are impersonal and leave little room to clarify responses (Cummings & Worley, 2009).

Interviews

Another method of collecting data is through interviews. The interview can be either highly structure with predetermined questions or more free flowing and allowing the respondents to lead the direction of the conversation. Interviews t...

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...vey of existing staff will take less time and will give the organization insight into employee morale. The interviews, while more time consuming, will determine the reason for staff leaving and will help identify any trends in the attrition. Finally, reviewing personal records is a great way to overcome potentially interview or survey bias that might occur. For example, if the current staff surveys do not indicate that staff has low morale, but there is a high absenteeism rate that would indicate an inconsistency that would need to be looked into future.

Change is an important part of all organizations and some change is planned. However, when an organization is planning a change they first need to fully understand the issue that they want to address. The best way to do this is to collect data regarding the issue and then develop a plan from there.

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