http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/10262/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39658/ 2013-04-16T00:00:00Z National statistical institutes must collect accurate data from businesses in a timely and cost-effective way and without causing too much response burden. An adequate design of the information request is critical in achieving this goal. This paper describes the lessons we have learned about the design of business survey questionnaires from a thorough evaluation of the questionnaires of a typical business survey for official statistics, the Structural Business Survey. The paper presents a framework for understanding factors that contribute to missing and inaccurate data and draws a number of conclusions regarding how the design of business surveys can be improved to take these factors into account. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39772/ 2013-02-12T00:00:00Z Objectives: Patients are often accompanied by family or companions during consultations, but little is known about how this might influence the process. We explored how the presence of a companion in a consultation contributes to communication and the decision-making process. Design: Observational study. Setting: A teaching hospital and a district general hospital in south-west England. Participants: 31 patients and their physicians were observed during consultations in which decisions to undergo palliative chemotherapy were made. Each patient was accompanied by at least one companion. Outcome measures: Communication patterns between physicians, patients and companions. Results: In addition to standard patient/physician interactions, patients and companions were often found to discuss medical information and exchange opinions between themselves without the physician actively participating. We called these instances 'family timeout'. On the occasion of disagreement between patients and companions about preferred treatment options, physicians and patients were able to agree the decision while acknowledging the differences in opinion. Conclusions: Instances of 'family time-out' may contribute to better consultation outcomes because they are understood and supported by the patient's social system. This study highlights the potentially important role of exchanges between patients and companions during consultations and how physicians may benefit from observation of such exchanges. We recommend testing the value of making space for family time-out during consultations. Also, we recommend further study into the medical ethics of family time-out. While the focus here is on palliative chemotherapy, this finding has implications for other consultations, particularly those involving difficult treatment decisions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39770/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z In organizational research there is an increasing interest in the study of configurations, i.e., of “multidimensional constellations of conceptually distinct characteristics that occur together” (Meyer, Tsui and Hinings, 1993: 1175). Frequently, the object of study is a process, i.e., a complex of activities that unfolds over time (e.g., an innovation project, a reorganisation, an implementation process). The characteristics that form the configuration are “conditions” (e.g., conditions A, B, and C) that are present (A, B, C) or absent (a, b, c). The notation ABC, thus, represents the observation that the three conditions A, B, and C are present in a process that is studied. Temporally ordered configurations can be defined as those configurations in which conditions occur in a specific temporal order (e.g., C→A→B, meaning that, in one case, C appears first, A next, and finally B). In this chapter we use the term “(temporal) sequence” for such a temporally ordered configuration. Note that the term “(temporal) order” is used here empirically as a synonym of the word “(temporal or chronological) pattern” and is not meant normatively (as opposed to “disorder”). Specific temporal sequences might generate or allow outcomes that are not generated or allowed by the same configuration of conditions if they appear in another temporal order (e.g., A→B→C or B→A→C). The terms “generating” and “allowing” (an outcome), which are used here in order to avoid the term “cause”, will be discussed below in the section on necessary conditions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37934/ 2012-11-26T00:00:00Z There are situations where the data or the theory suggest or require, respectively, that one estimate the boundary lines that separate regions of observations from regions of no observations. Of particular interest are ceiling or floor lines. For example, many theories use terms such as veto player, constraint, only if, and so on, which suggest ceilings. Ceiling hypotheses have a nonstandard form claiming the probability of Y will be zero for all values of Y greater than the ceiling value of Yc for a given value of X. Conversely, ceiling hypotheses make no specific prediction about the value of Y for a given value of X except that it will be less than the ceiling value. Floors work by guaranteeing minimum levels. The article gives numerous examples of theories that imply ceiling or floor hypotheses and numerous examples of data that fit such hypotheses. The article proposes quantile regression as a means of estimating the boundaries of the no-data zone as well as criteria for evaluating the importance of the boundary variable. These techniques are illustrated for ceiling and floor hypotheses relating gross domestic product/capita and democracy. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21222/ 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that necessary condition hypotheses are important in operations management (OM), and to present a consistent methodology for building and testing them. Necessary condition hypotheses (“X is necessary for Y”) express conditions that must be present in order to have a desired outcome (e.g. “success”), and to prevent guaranteed failure. These hypotheses differ fundamentally from the common co-variational hypotheses (“more X results in more Y”) and require another methodology for building and testing them. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews OM literature for versions of necessary condition hypotheses and combines previous theoretical and methodological work into a comprehensive and consistent methodology for building and testing such hypotheses. Findings – Necessary condition statements are common in OM, but current formulations are not precise, and methods used for building and testing them are not always adequate. The paper outlines the methodology of necessary condition analysis consisting of two stepwise methodological approaches, one for building and one for testing necessary conditions. Originality/value – Because necessary condition statements are common in OM, using methodologies that can build and test such hypotheses contributes to the advancement of OM research and theory. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19666/ 2010-05-26T00:00:00Z Purpose – To show that necessary condition hypotheses are important in operations management, and to present a consistent methodology for building and testing them. Necessary condition hypotheses (“X is necessary for Y”) express conditions that must be present in order to have a desired outcome (e.g. “success”), and to prevent guaranteed failure. These hypotheses differ fundamentally from the common co-variational hypotheses (“more X results in more Y”) and require another methodology for building and testing them. Design/methodology/approach – Reviewing operations management literature for versions of necessary condition hypotheses. Combining previous theoretical and methodological work into a comprehensive and consistent methodology for building and testing such hypotheses. Findings – Necessary condition statements are common in operations management, but current formulations are not precise, and methods used for building and testing them are not always adequate. Outline of the methodology of Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) consisting of two stepwise methodological approaches, one for building and one for testing necessary conditions. Originality/value – Because necessary condition statements are common in operations management, using methodologies that can build and test such hypotheses contributes to the advancement of operations management research and theory. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16203/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Pattern matching is comparing two patterns in order to determine whether they match (i.e., that they are the same) or do not match (i.e., that they differ). Pattern matching is the core procedure of theory-testing with cases. Testing consists of matching an “observed pattern” (a pattern of measured values) with an “expected pattern” (a hypothesis), and deciding whether these patterns match (resulting in a confirmation of the hypothesis) or do not match (resulting in a disconfirmation). Essential to pattern matching (as opposed to pattern recognition, which is a procedure by which theory is built) is that the expected pattern is precisely specified before the matching takes place. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16204/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Replication is conducting a study in another case (or population) in order to assess whether a research finding from previous studies can be confirmed. The aim of replication is to assess the generalizability of a theoretical claim and the “research finding” that is (or is not) confirmed in the replication study is a claim that is derived from the previous studies. Sometimes the term replication is also used for conducting a study in the same case (or population) in order to assess whether the finding from the previous study can be reproduced. To avoid confusion, the latter method of assessing the reliability of a study might better be called duplication. Duplication will not be discussed here. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16205/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Theory-building with cases is (a) formulating new propositions that emerge from the empirical evidence in a sample of cases and (b) testing them in the same sample. The main difference with most other forms of generating new propositions (such as analyzing the theoretical literature, brainstorming, etc.) is its empirical character. The main difference with other forms of discovering new propositions in empirical evidence (such as in ‘exploratory’ research) is that only those theoretical formulations are accepted as a result of the theory-building study that are confirmed in a test in the sample from which the proposition was built. It is possible that a proposition about a relationship between two variables emerges from an exploratory single case study (e.g., when both variables have extreme values in that case), but it is not possible to test that new proposition in the same study because this would require a comparison in a sample of cases. The term theory-building study (as distinct from an exploratory study) is used here only for studies in which a proper test of the new proposition has been conducted. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16206/ 2009-06-19T00:00:00Z Theory-testing with cases is ascertaining whether the empirical evidence in a case or in a sample of cases either supports or does not support the theory. There are two methodologies for theory-testing with cases, (a) testing in a single case (‘theory-testing single case study’), and (b) testing in a sample of cases (‘theory-testing sample case study’). The functional form of the proposition that is tested determines which of these two methodologies should be used. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21029/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z Inleiding Kwalitatieve onderzoekers betreuren het over het algemeen dat kwalitatief onderzoek doorgaans een exploratieve rol krijgt toebedeeld. In dit essay betoog ik dat zij zelf deels schuldig zijn aan deze roltoedeling, omdat zij geen overtuigende strategie ontwikkeld hebben om theorie te toetsen met kwalitatieve methoden. Ik wil laten zien dat en hoe de gangbare methodologische noties over het ontwikkelen van een generaliseerbare theorie in kwalitatief onderzoek tekortschieten. Ik zal ook proberen een alternatief daarvoor te formuleren. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21044/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z Response rates in business surveys are low, which implies a huge risk of selection bias. Usually no attempt is made to assess the extent of selection bias and published survey results might, therefore, not be a correct reflection of actual population characteristics. In this paper, it is argued that response rates cannot be improved to a sufficient degree and that assessment of selection bias is difficult in practice. It is concluded that academic questionnaire surveys of businesses should be abandoned and that an alternative way of testing theory in populations must be found. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20960/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z The three-step test interview (TSTI) is a recently developed observation-based procedure for the identification of response problems in self-administered survey questionnaires. The TSTI was applied in field test interviews to a quantity-frequency-variability questionnaire on alcohol consumption. For an assessment of its productivity the results are compared to a previously performed expert review. Most response problems that were identified in the expert review were confirmed in the field test interviews. Additionally, the TSTI identified many unexpected problems, mostly stemming from unanticipated “deviant” drinking patterns and from local normative connotations attached to drinking alcohol. From these findings we conclude that the TSTI is a powerful test tool with a high ecological validity. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/1265/ 2004-04-03T00:00:00Z The Three-Step Test-Interview (TSTI) is an instrument for pretesting a self-completion questionnaire by observing actual instances of interaction between the instrument and respondents (the response process). Because this process mainly consists of cognitive processing (‘thinking’) and is therefore hidden from the observer, (concurrent) think aloud is used as a technique for making the thought process observable. The productivity of the TSTI in identifying problems in questionnaires was assessed in three consecutive pilot studies. A manual for the application of the TSTI is appended. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20956/ 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20536/ 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z