The purpose of this paper is to investigate a possible favourable response pattern on scaled forms used as a means of evaluating training courses.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate a possible favourable response pattern on scaled forms used as a means of evaluating training courses.
Design/methodology/approach
In part one of the study evaluation forms were examined referring to courses were completed by 879 students attending 15 university level courses and 531 students at school. In part two a more exacting test for a favourable response tendency using attitude scales was designed. This involved 212 teachers who were asked about their willingness to include “children with special needs” in their classes.
Findings
It was found that the majority of students in part one responded at the favourable end of the evaluation scales. The same tendency was noted with the teachers in part two of the study.
Practical implications
Courses are likely to be evaluated favourably and therefore it is suggested that it is necessary to incorporate in any evaluation a means of comparison. Internal elements of courses need to be compared and courses should be judged in terms of how good they are when compared with other similar courses..
Originality/value
This is an important issue as scales are frequently used to collect student feedback and also to measure attitude change as a result of training courses, in universities, colleges and industry.
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The purpose of this study is to examine factors which influence responses on open‐ended evaluations of training courses.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine factors which influence responses on open‐ended evaluations of training courses.
Design/methodology/approach
Course participants completed open‐ended evaluation forms about their experience on a course. These consisted of 377 senior teachers attending a training programme dealing with child abuse. The course was repeated 17 times. The second training programme concerned teaching skills. This was attended by 231 postgraduates. The course was repeated 25 times.
Findings
Responses on open‐ended evaluation forms tended to be favourable with reference to “human related factors” and unfavourable when referring to “hygiene factors”.
Practical implications
It is suggested the way people complete evaluation forms is partly a reflection of their desire to see themselves as acting in a socially desirable manner. Interpretations made from such forms about the effectiveness or merits of any course should take this into account.
Originality/value
Provides a lot more information about open‐ended evaluations than is provided in the research methods texts. It is suggested that those who use open‐ended evaluations need to be particularly careful when they interpret them.
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The purpose of this research is to examine participants' response rate on dual style training course evaluation forms. These combine structured and open‐ended formats. Pencil and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine participants' response rate on dual style training course evaluation forms. These combine structured and open‐ended formats. Pencil and paper forms have a long history of use by trainers in business and commerce and more recently in education. Research methods texts tend to have neglected the issue of response rates with this type of form.
Design/methodology/approach
Approximately 2,000 course participants attending 28 courses completed evaluation forms. These were designed with a series of structured responses scales followed by a section for open‐ended comments.
Findings
It was found that the completion rate for the open‐ended sections was low and thus validity was suspect. Various explanations were offered for this. Subsequently when a redesigned evaluation form was administered to a further 1,641 course participants it was found that response rates increased dramatically when open‐ended sections were placed earlier in the questionnaire.
Practical implications
Indicates ways in which course evaluation forms can be redesigned to increase response rates for open‐ended sections and thus improve the validity of any findings.
Originality/value
Provides information about response rates neglected by most methodology texts concerning the design of training evaluation questionnaires which include open‐ended sections.
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Lifeng Yang, Scott Vitell and Victoria D. Bush
In this research, the authors aim to identify a situation when a consumer’s judgment of unethical behavior is not consistent with their intention to act ethically.
Abstract
Purpose
In this research, the authors aim to identify a situation when a consumer’s judgment of unethical behavior is not consistent with their intention to act ethically.
Design/methodology/approach
Across two studies, participants were asked to evaluate how ethical an actor’s behavior was when the actor knowingly kept surplus change from a distracted cashier. The identity of the actor was manipulated to be of either high or low similarity to the participants. The business where the distracted cashier worked for was described as either locally owned or a chain. Participant’s intended action in similar situation was assessed after their evaluation of how ethical/unethical the actor’s behavior was.
Findings
While participants generally find the actor’s behavior to be unethical, identity overlap between the participant and the actor is found to moderate how likely one is to emulate the actor’s behavior in a similar situation. Identity overlap is found to positively predict one’s likelihood to act like the actor in the scenarios. Whether the business was locally owned or a chain was not found to affect one’s ethical judgment or ethical intention.
Research limitations/implications
Identity overlap is found to positively predict one’s likelihood to act like the actor in the scenarios.
Practical implications
Whether the business was locally owned or a chain was not found to affect one’s ethical judgment nor ethical intention. While participants in general do show that they judge the actor’s behavior as unethical, identity overlap between the participant and the actor moderates how likely one is to act like the actor if put in the same scenario.
Social implications
The research suggests that consumers are more likely to act unethically when they identify with “similar” others, regardless of how unethical they consider that behavior to be.
Originality/value
This research suggests that even when consumers acknowledge that certain behavior against a business is unethical, their intention to engage in the unethical behavior may not be predicted by their judgment of how unethical the behavior is. Instead, consumers are likely to emulate unethical behavior of those whom they consider similar to themselves, regardless of how unethical they judge that behavior to be.
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Contemporary scholarship has enabled a deeper analysis of the dynamics that gave rise to professional home science and a greater understanding of the obstacles women encountered…
Abstract
Contemporary scholarship has enabled a deeper analysis of the dynamics that gave rise to professional home science and a greater understanding of the obstacles women encountered and the strategies they employed to gain legitimacy as the field developed in the twentieth century. This paper examines how home science moved from its origins as ‘glorified housekeeping’ to encompass the ‘professional and ‘scientific’ dimensions of women’s lives. It goes beyond judgments about whether home science ‘helped’ or ‘hurt’ women, and asks instead, what we can learn from a study of the professional lives of women working in the highly gendered domains of academia, the professions and education? The article documents the scientific and professional lives of two women, E. Neige Todhunter and Emere Makere Waiwaha Kaa Mountain who completed qualifications at the Faculty of Home Science, Otago University in the 1920s and 1930s as a way of offering new insights into the professionalisation of women and a rethinking of the relationship between women and household science in the twentieth century.
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Alessandra Mazzei, Vincenzo Russo and Alberto Crescentini
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the most relevant quality factors and communication activities that are suitable as competitive levers in dentistry.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the most relevant quality factors and communication activities that are suitable as competitive levers in dentistry.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a model that highlights the reciprocal influence between patient satisfaction and dentist reputation. The model points out that experience/behaviours, explicit communication and word‐of‐mouth are antecedents of both patient satisfaction and dentist reputation. This research is based on interviews with senior dentists, focus groups with patients and a survey of dentistry patients.
Findings
The most important quality factors for patient satisfaction are the doctor‐patient relationship and the clarity of information about treatment and cost. Key communication levers are first, the implicit communication that arises from successful treatment and overall service quality; second, the explicit communication that arises from interpersonal relations with the dentist and the staff, and the referrals of previous patients.
Practical implications
In order to gain competitive advantages, dentists should achieve an average level of patient satisfaction for “given” and “secondary” factors; to pay careful attention to “strategic factors”; and to explicitly communicate “opportunity factors” since patients are usually unaware of their value. Furthermore, dentists should emphasize interpersonal, experiential and third‐party communication with patients.
Originality/value
The paper puts forward a model that integrates previous service quality and reputation management models, and makes suggestions for the improvement of service quality management and communication in dentistry.
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“All things are in a constant state of change”, said Heraclitus of Ephesus. The waters if a river are for ever changing yet the river endures. Every particle of matter is in…
Abstract
“All things are in a constant state of change”, said Heraclitus of Ephesus. The waters if a river are for ever changing yet the river endures. Every particle of matter is in continual movement. All death is birth in a new form, all birth the death of the previous form. The seasons come and go. The myth of our own John Barleycorn, buried in the ground, yet resurrected in the Spring, has close parallels with the fertility rites of Greece and the Near East such as those of Hyacinthas, Hylas, Adonis and Dionysus, of Osiris the Egyptian deity, and Mondamin the Red Indian maize‐god. Indeed, the ritual and myth of Attis, born of a virgin, killed and resurrected on the third day, undoubtedly had a strong influence on Christianity.