METHOD

4.0

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

This chapter will focus on the method used to answer the research question of this study. The
first section describes the procedures for data collection. It also provides justification for the
methods used for sample selection. The second section describes how the data were analyzed in
this study.
4.1

RESEARCH DESIGN

In quantitative research, a research design consists of procedures to select research participants

and to determine how data will be collected from those participants (Sekaran & Bougie 2014).
This study used a cross-sectional survey design to test the relationship between motivational
factors on intention to use and actual use of online learning system, and the moderating effect of
voluntariness of use on the relationship between social influence and intention to use the online
learning system. The following sections justify the methods used for data collection and
sampling. Further, the results of pilot testing and procedures for data administration will also be
discussed.
4.1.1

Data collection method

In order to address the research question, the questionnaire survey method was employed to
collect data on the study variables. This method was used for four important reasons.
First, Tharenou et al. (2007) suggect that the questionnaire survey method is appropriate when
the objective of research is to test a theory or to test specific hypotheses that are derived from
prior theories and empirical research. Theory-testing research using the questionnaire survey
method involves empirical examination of the extent to which several independent variables
predict one or more dependent variables, as well as it involves the test of mediating and

moderating variables to examine the phenomenon of

interest in a greater depth. In the present study, performance

expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions are the independent
variables, whereas, intention to use and actual use are the dependent variables, and voluntariness
of use is the moderating variable. Thus, the questionnaire survey method was the appropriate
method for testing the hypothesized relationships among these variables.
Second, the questionnaire survey method allows data to be collected from a large sample
of respondents facing the phenomenon of interest in their everyday work life (Tharenou et al.
2007). The questionnaire survey method allows researchers to test theories and hypotheses on a
large number of respondents. The questionnaire survey method helps researchers even more
greatly in situations where the theory-testing research involves complex models containing a
large number of latent and observed variables and where statistical techniques such as structural
equation modelling require a large amount of data to produce reliable results. Thus, the
questionnaire survey method was an appropriate choice for the present study to satisfy the
requirements of large data.
Third, according to Saunders et al. (2009), one of the main advantages of the
questionnaire survey method is that it is relatively easy to explain and to understand. The
presentation of the questionnaire survey in a written form and the availability of sufficient time
to respond make communication between the researcher and respondents easy and comfortable.
On the one hand, it provides the researcher with an opportunity to comprehensively
communicate the research purpose, instructions, and questions about the constructs in a written
form, and on the other hand, it allows the respondents to read and respond at a time and pace of
their convenience.
Finally, the questionnaire survey method is the most efficient method in terms of time and
money. According to Spector (2001), the questionnaire survey method has advantages over other
methods, such as experiments and interviews, because it is economical and consumes relatively
less time for data collection. Viewing these benefits of the questionnaire survey method in terms
of saving time and money, this method was considered efficient and economical to address the
research question.

4.1.2

Measurement method

Self-report questions were used to measure all five of the psychological constructs of this study
such as cognition-based trust, affect-based trust, psychological safety, felt obligation, and
employee engagement. The self-report questions are the primary measurement devices in
psychology that are asked directly to the respondents to learn about their thoughts, feelings, and
behaviours (Schwarz 1999). The use of self-reports is frequent in organizational behavior
research because most of the psychological constructs in the field are related to the thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors of employees, and the most suitable way to measure such constructs is to
ask employees about them (Edwards 2008).
The reason for choosing self-reports to measure the psychological constructs of this study
was that people are able to report with reasonable accuracy when they are asked about their
internal states (Spector 2006). According to Chan (2009), self reports are the most suitable
device when constructs in a study are self-referential perceptions of the respondents. Because all
constructs in the present study were self-referential perceptions of employees about trust in their
managers, their feelings of safety and obligation, and their cognitive, emotional, and physical
experiences of engagement in work, the self-report method was the best choice to collect data
from the respondents.
4.1.3

Research setting

Data were collected in a field setting. In organizational behavior research, researchers test
theories using data obtained from field or laboratory research settings (Shadish, Cook &
Campbell 2002). Laboratory settings are created exclusively for research, but field settings are
real settings created by people other than researchers, and for purposes other than research
(Flanagan & Dipboye 1981). Due to differences in both settings, Stone-Romero (2004) advises
that the choice between the laboratory and field setting should be based on the capacity of the
research design (e.g., survey) to provide valid answers to research questions. Thus, the decision
to use a field setting for this research was based on the research question that demanded a real

setting consisting of managers and employees for the empirical examination of the relationship
between trust in manager and employee engagement.
4.1.4

Time horizon

The survey was cross-sectional, in which the data of all variables were collected at the same
time. Under the rubric of non-experimental research, the use of cross-sectional design has been
widespread throughout the century-long history of organisational behaviour research (StoneRomero 2010). Spector (2001) has noted various benefits of this approach. First, it is easier to
accomplish research targets through crosssectional survey because data are collected all at a
single point in time. Second, crosssectional surveys mostly do not require respondents to reveal
their personal identities, therefore the respondents feel free to be candid in their responses.
Finally, the feature of anonymity in the questionnaire survey method frees the researcher from
being concerned with ethical issues of protecting the identity of respondents, which might
otherwise emerge if managers demand to see who said what in the survey where the respondents
are identified.
The cross-sectional design is, however, generally criticised for its inability to determine
causality in the relationships between variables, because all the data is obtained at one time, and
it remains unknown if the cause occurs before the effect (Shadish et al. 2002: 18). According to
Schwab (2005: 91), the cross-sectional survey method is used to estimate the strength of
relationships between variables, and the causality between the variables is addressed at the
theoretical level. Spector (2001) argues that before determining causality between variables, it is
helpful to demonstrate that the variables have relationships in the first place. Adding to this,
Spector (2001) argues that the use of the cross-sectional survey method is customary at the initial
stages of research to demonstrate that it is worthwhile to continue research on the topic.
Although this thesis has discussed causality in the trust-engagement relationship largely based on
the theoretical and conceptual levels, most of the proposed relationships in this study have not
been assessed in past research. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to determine the strengths of
relationships through the cross-sectional method as a first step before determining causality in

the trust-engagement relationship at the empirical level using more sophisticated and rigorous
methods.
4.1.5

Focal unit

The focal unit in the present study represented the individual level. The rationale for focusing at
the individual level was based on three reasons. First, the proposed conceptual model of the
study was rooted in the self-in-role view (Kahn 1990) and social exchange theory (Blau 1964)
that focus on the individual level while explaining the attitudes and behaviours of people in the
social context of work. Second, all of the psychological constructs mentioned in the research
question tap into the cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes of people in their individual
capacities, therefore the measurement of these constructs was necessary at the individual level by
collecting data directly from the employees. Finally, the research question implied statistical
analysis of the relationships to draw conclusions about the trust-engagement relationship at the
employee level, therefore the research question could only be addressed by analysing the data at
the individual level.
4.1.6

Sampling design

In addition to dealing with procedures to obtain data, research design also involves sampling
design to deal with procedures to obtain research participants (Schwab 2005). In quantitative
research, researchers may approach all members of the population of interest to collect data for
testing theories, however, restrictions of time, money, and access to the whole population often
make it difficult for the researchers to collect data from every member of the population
(Saunders et al. 2009). Therefore, a sample is drawn from the population to represent the
population, and to help to generalize the results of the sample to the overall population. On one
side, the sample provides efficient and economical means of data collection, and on the other
side, it effectively deals with the practical limitations of accessing the whole population.
In the present study, a sample was drawn from a population of nurses working in a large
public hospital located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The following sections discuss (a) why a

sample of nurses was chosen for this study, (b) how access to the hospital was gained, (c) how
the sampling frame was specified, (d) how the sample size was determined, and (e) what
sampling technique was used to select cases from the population of nurses in the hospital.
a. Study sample
The ultimate purpose of organizational behavior is to understand attitudes and behaviors of
people in a workplace in order to predict and manage human behavior in organizations (Luthans
2011). For this very purpose, researchers develop theories and test them on samples of
employees from all walks of work life. Highhouse and Gillespie (2009) note that a sample may
belong to any occupational group or organization for theory testing research as long as the
phenomenon of interest exists in the sample. The authors argue that it is the theories that
generalize, not the samples, the research settings, or even the statistical effects.
Employee engagement represents the employment and expression of ones self in work
cognitively, emotionally, and physically (Kahn 1990), and this phenomenon is rooted in general
human motivation, therefore it is expected to exist in all types of occupations and organizations.
The universal nature of the phenomenon of employee engagement is evident from a large
number of studies where researchers have examined employee engagement on a variety of
samples such as soldiers (e.g., Britt, Adler & Bartone 2001), phone operators (e.g., Bakker et al.
2003), insurance agents (e.g., May et al. 2004), teachers (e.g., Hakanen et al. 2006), information
technology consultants (e.g., Hallberg et al. 2007), flight attendants (e.g., Xanthopoulou et al.
2008), firefighters (e.g., Rich et al. 2010), military cadets (e.g., Vogelgesang et al. 2013), and
frontline hotel employees (Karatepe et al. 2014) to name but a few.
Among the wide variety of occupational groups mentioned above, nurses have been
extensively studied in theory-testing research on employee engagement (e.g., Bechtoldt,
Rohrmann, De Pater & Beersma 2011; Bishop 2013; Brunetto, Xerri, Shriberg, Farr-Wharton,
Shacklock, Newman & Dienger 2013; Fiabane et al. 2013; Khnel et al. 2009; Simpson 2009;
Tomic & Tomic 2010; Trinchero, Brunetto & Borgonovi 2013; Van Bogaert, Wouters, Willems,
Mondelaers & Clarke 2013). Therefore, like various other occupational groups, a sample of
nurses was equally suitable for meeting the purpose of this study.

In addition, nursing staff as a sample for this study were also considered appropriate to
test the trust-engagement link, particularly, in the context of the manager-subordinate
relationship. Nursing researchers have found that healthy supervisor-nurse relationships have a
strong association with engagement by nurses in hospitals (Brunetto et al. 2013). Trinchero et al.
(2013) argued that the motivation and engagement of nurses decline when they do not experience
good relationships with their supervisors. Othman and Nasurdin (2013) noted that nurses
experience difficult and stressful work situations that are also emotionally demanding, therefore
their engagement in work greatly depends on their supervisors who are responsible for providing
them with enough resources and growth opportunities to effectively cope with such work
conditions. Thus, based on these reasons, it was decided to test the proposed theory on a sample
of nurses and, for this purpose, I contacted a large public hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
b. Gaining access to the hospital
In order to collect data from nurses, a large Malaysian public hospital in Kuala Lumpur was
contacted in June 2013. The hospital employed more than 800 nurses. It consisted of 845 beds
and provided health care services to more than 35,000 patients on average every year. According
to the policy of the hospital, researchers were first required to get approval from the Research
and Ethics Committee of the hospital followed by approval from the hospital director. The
Research and Ethics Committee was responsible for evaluating research proposals for any ethical
issues concerning human subjects involved as respondents. The hospital director was responsible
for giving final approval based on the recommendations of the committee.
In accordance with policy, the Research and Ethics Committee was contacted to obtain
ethical evaluation of the research proposal. Because the research sample consisted of nurses, the
committee asked for a written consent from the head of nursing department to conduct the
research on nurses. Further, the committee also required to involve one staff member from the
hospital as a co-researcher in the study. After meeting those two requirements, the research
proposal was submitted along with research application and related documents to the committee
in July 2013. In August 2013, the committee approved the application and asked to write another

application to the hospital director to obtain final permission to collect data. In the last week of
August 2013, formal permission was received from the hospital director to collect data from
nurses.
c. Sampling frame
The sampling frame refers to a complete list of all members in the population from which the
sample is drawn (Saunders et al. 2009). In September 2013, the nursing management department
of the hospital was contacted to obtain a complete list of nurses in order to specify the sampling
frame for the study. Unfortunately, the nursing management department could not provide such a
list. The department head, however, provided me with a list of names of all healthcare units and
their respective head nurses. There were 53 healthcare units on the list comprising wards (e.g.,
orthopaedic, surgical, paediatrics), clinics, labour room, operation theatres, and some special
units to treat issues relating to, for instance, burns, psychiatry, and lactation. There were 109
head nurses to supervise nursing services in these healthcare units. The nursing management
department of the hospital was responsible to assign nurses to these healthcare units for day,
evening, and night shifts. Although the list did not provide an exact number of nurses serving in
each healthcare unit, it specified the locations where the nurses could be approached to collect
data for the study.
d. Sample size
Sample size plays a critical role in obtaining reliable results and making valid conclusions (Kline
2011). According to Kothari (2004), too small a sample size impedes the achievement of
research objectives and too large a sample size wastes time and money. Fink (2003a) suggests
that an optimum sample size should be large enough to detect effects on the relationships.
Therefore, an appropriate sample size must be determined to keep the research economical and
reliable.
In organizational behavior research, there is no single method for determining a sample
size. Aguinis and Harden (2009) reviewed 1,260 articles published between 2000 and 2006 in the
leading management journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science

Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Strategic Management

Journal. In 102 articles where researchers explicitly stated their criteria of determining sample
sizes, Aguinis and Harden (2009) noted three rules of thumb being practiced by the researchers
to determine the sample size.
First, researchers determined the sample size following the method of statistical power
analysis proposed by Jacob Cohen. In this method, a sample size is calculated using the values of
(a) statistical power (1 ) that is the probability of detecting an effect that exists in the
hypothesised relationship, and where (i.e., Type II error rate) refers to the probability of not
detecting an existing effect, (b) the significance criterion () that is the probability of falsely
concluding that an effect exists in the hypothesized relationship, and (c) effect size that is a
measure of the strength of a phenomenon such as the difference between two means (Cohens d)
or correlation coefficient (r). Second, researchers having access only to a small number of
respondents determined the sample size using the values of statistical power, the significance
criterion, and effect size, but they fixed the value of the significance criterion a priori to .10 or
even .20 from its usual values of .01 and .05. Finally, researchers using covariance-based
structural equation modelling applied the N:q rule where N represented a sample size and q
represented a total number of parameters to be estimated. According to this rule of thumb, the
minimum ratio of N to q should be 5:1, which means that there must be 5 cases for each
parameter to reach an adequate sample size.
It was intended to use structural equation modelling to analyze data in the present study.
Therefore, I determined the sample size using the N:q rule, which is recognized by the leading
management research journals as an acceptable rule of thumb for determining a sample size
(Aguinis & Harden 2009). Although q in the N:q rule captures the complexity of the structural
model by taking into account the total number of parameters to be estimated, there is no set
criterion for determining the total number of cases per parameter (Jackson 2003). According to
Bentler and Chou (1987), the minimum number of cases for each parameter should be 5 when
the data meets the assumption of normality, and 10 is desirable when this assumption is not met.
According to Jackson (2003), an ideal ratio of N to q is 20:1. In line with these suggestions,
Kline (2011) notes that an ideal minimum sample size is based on a 20:1 ratio and less than an

ideal minimum sample size is based on a ratio of 10:1; moreover, the trustworthiness of the
results tends to decline below the 5:1 ratio.
The present study had 5 latent constructs and 38 observed variables. Thus, the total
number of parameters to be estimated was 89, which was obtained by summing 38 item
variances, 38 measurement errors, 3 residuals of employee engagement dimensions, and 10
covariances among the latent constructs (Arbuckle 2011). Based on the N:q rule, the most
conservative sample size using the ratio of 5:1 was 445. The moderate sample size using the ratio
of 10:1 was 890. The ideal sample size using the ratio of 20:1 was 1,780. Because the total
number of nurses in the population was only about 800 and it was also practically impossible to
approach the entire population, the only possible sample size for the study could be close to 445
using the 5:1 rule of thumb.
e. Sampling technique
The final step in the sampling design was to choose an appropriate sampling
technique to select cases from the sampling frame. As noted earlier, the sampling
frame mentioned only the names of healthcare units and head nurses. Therefore, it
was not possible to select individual cases randomly. After discussion with coresearcher who was a senior lecturer in the nursing training centre of the hospital, it
was decided that convenience sampling was the only practical way of selecting
cases from the sampling frame.

f. Measurement of study constructs

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships among the psychological
constructs of cognition-based trust, affect-based trust, psychological safety, felt obligation, and
employee engagement. In empirical research, it is crucial for the researcher to quantify the
constructs of interest through developing new measurement scales or using the ones that have
already been developed by earlier researchers (Aguinis, Henle & Ostroff 2001). The constructs
used in this study are well-known in organizational behavior, and their reliable and valid
measurement scales are also available. Therefore, the existing scales were used to measure the

constructs in the present study. A complete list of measurement scales is given in Appendix A.
The details of these measurement scales are provided in the following discussion.
4.1.7

Questionnaire design

The questionnaire was designed according to the guidelines provided by the Research and Ethics
Committee of the hospital. The purpose of these guidelines was to ensure that research involving
human subjects is conducted in a scientific and ethical manner. These guidelines required the
researchers to respect autonomy of the participants by clarifying for them the scope of research
and stating the voluntariness of their participation. Further, these guidelines made it mandatory to
obtain information consent from the study participants and to maintain the confidentially of their
responses on their behalf.
Researchers recommend that a feasible length of a survey questionnaire should be somewhere
between four to eight pages of A4 size (Saunders et al. 2009: 389). In line with these
recommendations, the survey questionnaire for this study consisted of six pages of A4 size. In
keeping with the requirements of Research and Ethics Committee, in the first two pages of the
questionnaire, information was provided about the purpose of research, participants role,
benefits of study, risks, confidentiality, and participants right to withdraw from participating in
the study. In the subsequent four pages of the questionnaire, measurement scales of the study
variables were provided in five sections. In the first four sections, employee engagement,
cognition-based trust and affect-based trust in manager, psychological safety, and felt obligation
were measured. In the last section, the respondents were asked to provide their demographic
information by checking the appropriate option box about their gender, race, marital status, and
highest education, and to indicate their age and tenure in years in the provided spaces. The
complete survey questionnaire is provided in Appendix B.
4.1.8

Pilot testing

Pilot testing helps researchers to determine how long it takes respondents to complete the
questionnaire, to check the clarity of questions and instructions, and to identify any items which

do not yield usable data (Bell 2010). Schwab (2005) recommends that pilot testing should be
conducted in two steps. In the first step, face validity of the questionnaire should be tested by
asking some of the respondents from the intended sample to provide their understanding and
feedback on each item. In the second step, data should be collected from some of the intended
respondents to examine if the scores of mean, variance, correlation, and reliability of multi-item
measures behave as expected. I followed these two steps as recommended by Schwab (2005)
while conducting the pilot study for the survey questionnaire. These steps are elaborated in the
following discussion.
a. Face validity test
The face validity of the survey questionnaire was tested as the first step of pilot testing.
According to Schwab (2005), a measure is face valid when its items reflect the construct as
defined conceptually. According to Saunders et al. (2009), face validity tests whether the survey
questionnaire appears to make sense to the respondents. In the face validity test, respondents are
asked to complete the questionnaire and then asked to provide their opinion on the clarity and
appropriateness of questions and instructions, difficulty in answering any of the questions,
omission of any question, attractiveness of the questionnaire layout, or any general comments to
improve the questionnaire (Bell 2010). Describing the benefits of the face validity test, Schwab
(2005) noted that the face validity test enhances response rates, reduces missing data, and helps
to obtain more valid responses later during the final data collection.
The face validity test was conducted at the hospital. Due to the very busy schedule of
nurses, only three nurses from the morning shift showed willingness to participate in this test. At
the outset, the purpose of the research and the objective of the face validity test were briefly
introduced, and the nurses were requested to complete the questionnaires without any time
constraint. It took the respondents 10 to 15 minutes to complete the questionnaires.
Afterwards, following the guidelines of Bell (2010), the three respondents were asked to give
opinions about the clarity and appropriateness of questions and instructions. They were asked to
highlight any of the questions where they found it difficult to understand and respond. They were

asked to suggest if they wanted any questions to be omitted which they considered unnecessary.
Finally, they were asked to provide feedback on the attractiveness of the questionnaire layout and
to make any suggestions to improve the questionnaire. All respondents showed satisfaction with
the clarity of the questions and did not find any item to be difficult to understand both in English
and Bahasa Melayu. Thus, no changes were made in the questionnaire as a result of the face
validity test.
b. Pilot test of the questionnaire
In the second phase of the pilot study, a plan was developed to test the questionnaire on a small
portion of the sample. There is no standard criterion to determine the total number of respondents
for a pilot study. Fink (2003b) suggests that the minimum number of respondents for a pilot
study should be 10. According to Tharenou et al. (2007), the total number of respondents in a
pilot study may range from three up to 30.
On September 2013, the head of the nursing management department was contacted for
conducting pilot study at the hospital. The department head was briefed about the purpose of the
research and her help was sought to conduct the pilot study of the survey questionnaire on 30
nurses. The head offered support to administer the survey on my behalf through the department
personnel. Forty questionnaires were given to the department head. The head asked me to collect
completed questionnaires from the department after five working days. Fortunately, all surveys
were returned with a response rate of 100 percent.
4.1.9

Survey administration

The survey administration process began in the last week of September 2013 and continued until
the first week of November 2013. In total, the survey administration process took six weeks to
complete. The following sections describe how the survey administration was planned, what
procedures were employed to distribute and collect data from nurses, and what response rate was
achieved in the end.

a. Survey administration plan

An overall plan for the survey administration was developed prior to the distribution and
collection of data. First, a meeting was arranged with the co-researcher, who was an associate
professor at the nursing training centre of the hospital, and was assigned by the hospital
management to help in conducting research at the hospital. The purpose of this meeting was to
develop a plan to determine which healthcare units should be approached to collect data from
nurses, and how the questionnaires should be distributed and collected back from them.
In the survey administration plan, the sampling frame was the starting point to identify
locations where the data could be collected from nurses in the hospital. As noted in the
discussion of the sampling frame, a complete list of nurses working in the hospital was not
available. Therefore, the sampling frame was based on the list that provided information only
about the healthcare units (e.g., wards, clinics, labour room) and their respective unit heads. In
consultation with the co-researcher, it was decided that the desired sample size of 445 nurses
could be achieved by focusing on wards because the largest number of nurses was employed in
wards as compared with their number in any other healthcare unit.
The next stage in the survey administration plan was to decide how the distribution and
collection of the questionnaire should be carried out in wards with the objective of achieving a
maximum response rate. This issue was considered from many aspects due to various practical
limitations. For example, the official and day-today language of communication in the hospital
was Bahasa Melayu. On one side, as a foreigner, it was difficult for me to explain the purpose of
my research in Bahasa Melayu to ward heads and motivate nurses to participate in the research.
On the other side, it was also difficult for nurses to communicate with me in English with the
level of comfort they had with their native and official language. It was felt that the
communication problem might cause a poor response rate in the end. Another limitation in the
survey administration was that there were certain wards on the list where outsiders were not
allowed to enter. Therefore, it was not possible for me to collect data from those wards in person.
Due to these practical limitations, we decided to engage someone from the hospital to facilitate
the distribution and collection of the survey questionnaires.

A female Malay lecturer from the training staff of the nursing department was contacted
to help in the distribution and collection of questionnaires in wards. The lecturer showed
willingness to provide help in the survey administration as a research assistant. I scheduled a
meeting with her and explained the purpose of the research and how the survey administration
should be carried out. Considering the 100 percent response rate in the pilot study, it was decided
that initially 500 questionnaires would be distributed in wards, and more questionnaires would be
distributed in a second round if the total number of collected questionnaires was below the target
sample size of 445. Further, in order to protect the confidentiality of responses, it was decided
that the questionnaire would be personally handed over to the nurses, and would also be taken
back directly from the nurses without involving any third person. Most importantly, because the
questionnaire contained items about trust in supervisor (or ward head), it was decided that ward
heads should not be involved at any stage during the distribution or collection of the
questionnaires.
b. Questionnaire distribution
The questionnaire distribution in wards started in the first week of October 2013. Out of 53
healthcare units, there were 28 wards in the hospital. The research assistant distributed 500
questionnaires in 22 wards to the nurses working in the morning shift. Because the research
assistant was a full time employee of the hospital, she distributed questionnaires during her
official working hours from 8am to 5pm. In each ward, the research assistant first briefly
explained the purpose of research to the respective ward head without mentioning that the
research involved measures relating to trust in ward heads. After obtaining permission from the
ward head, the research assistant briefed the nurses in person about the broader purpose of the
research. She assured them that their responses would be kept in strict confidentiality, and
informed them that their participation would be voluntary. The nurses were given one week to
complete the questionnaire. Due to the busy schedule of nurses in wards, they were also allowed
to take the questionnaires home.
c. Questionnaire collection

One week after the distribution of the questionnaires, the research assistant started the collection
process by visiting the target wards in person. A total of 373 questionnaires were returned,
making a response rate of almost 75 percent. During the physical inspection of the
questionnaires, 11 were found to be completely blank. Thus, the remaining 362 were usable for
data analysis. Because the obtained number of responses was below the required sample size of
445, another round of data collection was initiated to reach the target sample size. In the second
round, it was decided to distribute 100 more questionnaires. Because all the collected responses
were anonymous, it was impossible to track down the respondents who did not participate in the
first round. Therefore, the research assistant distributed questionnaires in four more wards that
were not approached in the first round. In the second round, 98 questionnaires were returned for
a response rate of 98 percent.
4.2

DATA ANALYSIS METHODS

In quantitative research, various methods of data analysis are used in accordance with the
specific objectives of research. These methods involve several operational and statistical
procedures for preliminary and main data analyses. The following sections provide details about
the methods used for preliminary and main data analyses, and provide justification for their
relevance in the study.
4.3

SUMMARY

This chapter has discussed methods used to test the proposed conceptual model. The first part
highlighted that self-report data were obtained through the questionnaire survey method. The
study was conducted in a Malaysian public hospital, and cross sectional data were collected from
nurses at the individual level using convenience sampling. The second part of the chapter
discussed methods that will be used in the analysis of data. The requirements of multivariate
analysis will be assessed in a preliminary data analysis using descriptive statistics. Next, the
requirements of structural equation modelling will be examined in two steps. First, a
confirmatory factor analysis will be used to assess fit and construct validity of the measurement

model in relation to specified cutoff criteria. Second, a nested modelling approach using the chisquare difference test will be used to assess alternative structural models. Finally, direct
hypotheses will be tested using structural path estimates, and mediation hypotheses will be tested
using the bias-corrected bootstrapping method. The next chapter discusses results generated from
these methods.