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Welcome to the June SR&A Newsletter! This issue contains some updating information about our new Career Motivation Indicator, an article on a telephone 360 project, more news about Quintax research, and more beside including downloads and a June Discovery offer!
If you don't want to receive this Newsletter you can unsubscribe at the foot of this page. We send out Newsletter mailings no more than once every month or two, and we limit ourselves in each one to around 5 or 6 main news items. There are also some attractive offers for you to consider in this and in forthcoming issues!
If you think the Newsletter may be useful to a colleague, then why not use the 'forward email' link below to send a copy to their email address. They will only become subscribed to our list if they then choose to click the 'Join Our Mailing List' button on the left! |
| Career Motivation Indicator |
CMI Version 2 Now Available!
In the last Newsletter we introduced a new measure for use in career counselling, viz. the Career Motivation Indicator. Thank you to everyone who responded to our invitation to complete the pilot version. We have now been able to extend our norms and confirm that CMI has satisfactory psychometric properties. We have also examined the relationship between personality (using Quintax, of course!) and career motives, and we intend to present this information at the next BPS Division of Occupational Psychology Conference. We are grateful for the many comments on both the questions and the report which will enable us to improve and refine CMI in the future.
Our development work is continuing and we have now released version 2 of the measure. If you haven't yet tried CMI and would like to do so, please contact us at cmi@sr-associates.com. We will send you the latest version to complete and will produce a report for you following receipt of the completed questionnaire.
A number of people are now using CMI in trials with their clients. If you would like to take part in these trials please contact Derek Wilkie on 0161 877 3277 or by email at newsletterfeedback@sr-associates.com. |
| 360 feedback for Volkswagen Group UK |
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| Telephone Interviews for 360 Feedback
Taking a tailored approach to 360 feedback, we have tended to use a variety of methods for gathering 360 response data - both in text and rating form. However, we were very interested when VWG UK requested a telephone interview approach to collecting ratings and comments from feedback-givers.
In the resulting consulting project we found three main advantages of this approach as a method for collecting 360 data:
- the use of occupational psychologists as interviewers helps ensure that respondents understand the information that is being requested, and can be followed up for clarification where necessary
- the interview format ensures that each element of the feedback requested is given equal weight and is fully considered
- the approach is liked by very senior respondents who often prefer a direct conversation to dealing with websites, email attachments, paper forms, etc.
We have now successfully completed 2 rounds of 360 feedback involving some of the most senior managers in VWG UK. Although inevitably more expensive for clients than some other methods of data collection, we have found that the approach results in higher response rates and more comprehensive feedback.
If you would like to know more about this approach, or any other aspect of our 360 services, please contact Derek Wilkie on 0161 877 3277 or at newsletterfeedback@sr-associates.com. Click here for more information about our general approach to 360. |
| Quintax Developments |
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New Equivalence Research
Clients have occasionally asked us how one can be sure that Internet testing produces the same kinds of data as paper and pencil methods. Most of the existing studies of this topic are very reassuring about the equivalence of the two approaches. To make our own check we recently identified a block of 1000 cases from our Quintax On-line database for use in research studies. One of the first things we did with this group was to compare it with our Composite Norm Group from the paper and pencil version of Quintax. A description of the outcome of this 'equivalence study' can be obtained as a Quintax Research Note by clicking here.
In summary, the main findings were:
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Only very small differences were found between the psychometric properties (in this case the scale averages and standard deviations) of the on-line and the paper and pencil Quintax data.
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When looked at in terms of statistical comparison the differences were in what is known as the 'small effect size' category. This indicates that their significance is very limited in practical terms. Small differences between the two samples in constitution may be enough to account for the minor differences in average scores on the key Quintax traits.
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As a result the two ways of administering Quintax (by Internet or by direct paper and pencil administration) show strong equivalence both in terms of average score and variability of score.
As before, this is not an unusual finding in personality assessment, but it is reassuring for users that whichever approach they adopt to Quintax administration will yield comparable scores. We will be pursuing other aspects of the equivalence issue in a later Research Note.
New Quintax Server
With effect from May 25th, and after much careful preparatory work, a new Quintax On-line server came succssfully into operation. The new server will provide an improvement in speed and resilience for customers, and will be more efficiently maintained under a new contract.
After a number of years of use the old server has been decommissioned and cleared of all software and data. Happily, we have been able to recycle it by donating it to a good cause where it will be used for teaching purposes and for student experimentation.
Norms Available for Download
If you are a Quintax User you may want to download a couple of additional norm tables for inclusion in your Quintax User Guide. Click here for a norm based upon a sample of international managers, and/or for a norm based on a group of Open University students. |
| Shared Resources and Links |
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Learning Logs
We are currently involved in some work with one of our clients in the banking sector which has involved individual assessment and a development process supported by external mentoring for members of the bank's staff. This has typically (but not always) been focussed on young high potential managers. In trying to help them centre upon and focus their development around learning objectives, we have been using a learning log tool. This can be downloaded from here, along with a short explanatory guide. It can be used freely, although we would particularly value any feedback or alternatives that readers like or can suggest at newsletterfeedback@sr-associates.com.
Learning Link
We also came across a useful link in the above work - to www.andrewgibbons.co.uk which is a real treasure trove of ideas, concepts, and downloadables around learning, development, negotiation, etc. It is well worth exploring if you have a few minutes free! |
| Focus on Discovery |
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| This Month's Offer
At the foot of this Newsletter there is a Buy-One-Get-One-Free offer voucher related to our Discovery Series of assessment and development centre exercises. The Discovery range has been developing over a period of many years, with exercises being added following successful use with clients from different sectors. The exercises are therefore all tried and tested, and have been found useful in generating rateable behaviour among exercise participants.
How to Become a Discovery User
You can check out the range of exercises available on our website, and you can also register as a user if you have had appropriate experience or training in assessment centres. We run in-company training to support this, although many of our users have been trained by other publishers and/or psychologists. We have a tool for choosing exercises from the range, as well as a downloadable list of exercise descriptions. We also offer a service for 'tailoring' exercises as and when requested by clients - particularly in relation to rating sheets in order to reflect client competency frameworks. Do contact us if you would like to follow-up on any of the exercises. |
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| Tell us straight!
Why not email us if you have any feedback on the content of this newsletter. If there are issues you want to raise or if there is content you would like to see in the next Newsletter we'd be glad to hear from you. If you have any bright ideas about our services or products that we can share with others we will ask you if we can include them in a forthcoming Newsletter.
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| Who are we? |
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For Information
SR&A Limited is a UK company based in Manchester and registered at the address shown at the foot of this Newsletter under Company Registration No. 4887351. Specialising in Business Psychology, our company is led and run by Chartered Psychologists regulated under a Code of Conduct established by the British Psychological Society. Through SR&A, our psychologists have been working with people in business and the public sector throughout the UK and more widely in the EC since 1990. Visit our website to see the full range of training courses, consulting services, and products we offer. | |
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