Validity and reliability

Validity refers to the appropriateness of the measure used, whilst reliability considers the consistency of the measure (Hammond & Wellington, 2013). Validity implies the results obtained from the instrument used are meaningful, which in turn allows the researcher to generalise findings from the sample to the wider population (Creswell, 2005). One of the most often used statistics to determine reliability is Cronbach’s alpha. This statistic determines the internal consistency in a survey instrument to ascertain its reliability. Internal consistency indicates that all of the variables vary in the same direction and their level of correlation with each other is statistically significant (Trobia, 2008).

The Cronbach’s alpha test used to measure this is calculated as follows:

In this calculation n is the number of items whilst r is the average of the intercorrelation among them. Cronbach’s alpha varies from 0 to 1 with a higher value indicating the scale is coherent and therefore reliable (Trobia, 2008). Cronbach alphas above .60 represent satisfactory reliability levels (Kouzes & Posner, 2002).The TCM Employee Commitment Survey used in the quantitative data collection stage, has previously been established as a reliable instrument to measure OC. Cronbach’s alpha testing across many studies indicate the median scale reliabilities for normative,

continuance and affective scales are .73, .79 and .85 respectively (Meyer & Allen, 1997).

Whilst the Three-Component Model proposed by Meyer and Allen (1991; 1997) examines the individual constructs of affective, normative and continuance

commitment, it also seeks to predict commonalities amongst these constructs. Whilst there have been several studies which indicate the three commitment forms are discernible constructs and are distinguishable from related constructs including, job satisfaction, career commitment, occupational commitment and work values (Meyer & Allen, 1997), one commonality is that each commitment type has an effect on an individual’s desire to remain with an organisation (Jaros, 1997).

Ensuring research is both valid and reliable is especially difficult when it is based on semi-structured interviews (Brink, 1989). Validity and reliability in a semi- structured interview is based upon not asking the participants exactly the same

question in the same format every time, but in conveying equivalent meanings for every question asked of a participant. In this way a researcher can ensure the interviews are standardised and also facilitates comparability (Louise-Barriball & While, 1994).The interview questionswhich formed the basisof thecurrent study were adapted for each participant without removing the essence of the intent of the question. On occasions questions may not be asked of a participant if the topic was adequately covered in a previous answer to a question. Audio recordings of the interviews ensured their content can be replicated and validates the completeness and accuracy of the information collected (Louise-Barriball & While, 1994).

4.13 Procedure

A mixed methods approach to data collection was adopted utilising both surveys and semi-structured interviews with participants. The first phase of the data collection process involved the dissemination of a questionnaire to participants. This questionnaire was based on the survey for measuring OC of employees developed by

Meyer and Allen (2004) known as the TCM Employee Commitment Survey. Additional demographic questions were added to the survey which was then manually entered onto the survey tool Qualtrics. Each question measuring OC was coded from 1 “strongly disagree” to 7 “strongly agree” with the exception of the following questions which were reverse coded as recommended by Meyer and Allen (2004).

I think that I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am to the WA Police.

I do not feel like 'part of the WA Police family'. I do not feel 'emotionally attached' to the WA Police. I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to the WA Police.

I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having another one lined up.

It wouldn't be too costly for me to leave the WA Police now.

I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her organization. Jumping from organization to organization does not seem at all unethical to me. I do not think that wanting to be a 'company man' or 'company woman' is sensible anymore.

At the completion of the 24 questions measuring commitment a question asking the participants whether they were currently undertaking secondary employment in addition to their employment with the WA Police, was added to the survey. If the participant answered “no” they were automatically taken to the end of the survey. If the participant answered “yes” they were asked if they were willing to participate further in the research by volunteering to take part in a confidential one-on-one interview with the researcher. If the participant answered “yes” to this question they were also asked to click on a separate link embedded within this question which would generate an e-mail to the researcher. The participant was advised that by sending this email to the

researcher they would be identified as undertaking the survey but their individual responses would remain confidential. Those participants who agreed to take part in

further research became the pool of participants for the second stage of the data collection involving a series of interviews with the researcher.

An electronic link to the survey was provided through the Qualtrics survey tool. This link was tested in a pilot study as described earlier. The researcher then engaged the services of the Western Australia Police Academic Research Administration Unit (ARAU) to disseminate the survey to participants. The ARAU accessed the human resource systems of the WA Police and collated all participants from within the

sampling frame into a group e-mail distribution list. The researcher provided the ARAU with the electronic link to the survey, an Informed Consent document and an

Information letter to participants and asked the ARAU to send the link to all participants

within the sampling frame. In addition, the researcher included a letter of introduction along with an outline of the study, into the body of the e-mail (Appendix 9).

Once these documents were sent to the ARAU the Qualtrics survey was opened by the researcher to allow participants to commence inputting their responses. The above e-mail was sent to participants by the ARAU on the 6th of January, 2014 and participants commenced completing the survey immediately. The majority of surveys (59%) were completed by participants on the 7th _{of January, 2014 with 29% of} participants completing the survey between the hours of 8.00 am and 9.00 am. Eighty four per cent of participants completed the survey within 10 minutes, with the longest time to complete the survey recorded as 3 hours and 30 minutes. It is assumed by the researcher that this participant was drawn away from the survey for a majority of this time and subsequently returned to complete it resulting in the long completion time. The survey was closed on the 26th _{of February, 2014 approximately 8 weeks after it} was opened.

On the 14th _{of March, 2014 approximately 3 weeks after the survey was closed,} a group e-mail was sent by the researcher to all participants who had indicated their willingness to take part in semi-structured interviews (Appendix 10). Those who replied by e-mail indicating they wished to take part were individually contacted by telephone or e-mail by the researcher and specific times were arranged for the researcher to meet with the participants. The first of these interviews took place on the 4th _{of April,} 2014 with the last interview conducted on the 19th _{of November, 2014. For the 13} participants who lived in the metropolitan area, interviews took place at the participant’s workplaces in private locations such as lunch rooms or closed offices and on a number of other occasions interviews were conducted at cafes.

The participants were again provided with an Information letter and an Informed

Consent document which they were asked to sign before the interview took place. For

those officers who lived in regional WA they were contacted by telephone and the interviews took place over the telephone with the call being placed on speaker and the conversation recorded on a digital voice recorder. Prior to this interview the regional participants were e-mailed an Informed Consent form and an Information letter, which they were required to read and sign before the interview took place. The signed

Informed Consent form was then sent back to the researcher by mail or scanned and

sent electronically by e-mail. The signed Informed Consent is kept in a secure location by the researcher as required by the HREC.

Thirteen open-ended interview questions were asked of the participants with a view to answering the research question, “What factors influence the decision of WA police officers to undertake secondary employment?” The interviews were digitally recorded with the permission of the participants. The participants were advised they would not be identified in any way and any information contained within the interview which would identify them would be removed from written transcripts of the interviews.

Once the final interview was completed the researcher had the interviews transcribed into a Word document. The transcripts were then entered into the NVivo 11 software tool for analysis.

4.14 Participants

4.14.1 Quantitative survey

The participants who agreed to take part in the survey were a varied group of police officers from both metropolitan and regional WA. A total of 963 surveys were commenced with 168 cases missing at least one response from the survey. The table below outlines the demographics of the participants who commenced the survey.

Table 4.2

Demographic information of participants who commenced the survey

1. How many years have you been a police officer?

# Answer Response % 1 Under 5 years 114 12% 2 5-10 years 172 19% 3 11-15 years 136 15% 4 16-20 years 135 15% 5 20+ years 366 40% Total 923 100%

2. What is your current rank?

# Answer Response % 1 Constable 117 13% 2 1/C Constable 138 15% 3 Senior Constable 304 33% 4 Sergeant 237 26% 5 Senior Sergeant 78 8% 6 Commissioned _Officer 46 5% Total 920 100%

3. What is your sex?

# Answer Response %

1 Male 737 80%

2 Female 182 20%

Total 919 100%

4. Do you work in metropolitan or regional Western Australia?

# Answer Response %

1 Metropolitan 697 76%

2 RWA 222 24%

Total 919 100%

5. Do you currently work full-time of part-time?

# Answer Response %

1 Full-time 888 97%

2 Part-time 28 3%

Total 916 100%

6. At any time in the last 12 months have you engaged in any paid employment other than with the WA Police?

# Answer Response %

1 Yes 198 23%

2 No 674 77%

4.14.2 Qualitative semi-structured interviews

Of the 76 participants who indicated their willingness to take part in interviews, 35 initially agreed to take part in semi-structured interviews after being contacted by the researcher. Three participants subsequently withdrew from the study leaving a

remaining sample size of 32 participants. Of this remaining sample, 20 participants were selected by the researcher for one-on-one interviews. The researcher utilised a combination of typical and convenience sampling procedures to select these

participants. Typical sampling selects participants who reflect the average person, instance or situation, whilst convenience sampling, as the term suggest, selects

participants based on their availability as well as other factors such as time and money (Merriam, 2014).

The researcher selected 13 participants based on their physical work location being in a close proximity to the researcher’s work location, with the remaining 7

participants living in regional WA. This sample consisted of 17 males and 3 females, 10 participants were of the rank of constable (including first class constable and senior constable), 7 participants were of the rank of sergeant (which included senior sergeant) and 3 participants held the rank of Inspector. All participants worked full-time. The table below compares this sample group against the entire WA Police population.

Table 4.3

Comparison of sample group