Methodology and Method in Case Study Research

It is the situational specificity or context of qualitative research that ensures the case study remains a methodological approach, inherently valuable in practice-based research. Since this is inherently complex and multifaceted by nature, being able to provide a means of systematically analysing and framing research investigations is pivotal to the credibility of research that can highlight and illuminate these specific contextual issues. This chapter provides a means by which researchers can begin to frame the complexity of phenomena they wish to investigate by deliberately determining its parameter or scope and then framing or binding this. Beyond these processes, an insight into the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data will be provided so that theoretical outcomes can be framed and posited as part of an active contribution to knowledge. The fact that case study can be posited as both methodology and method ensures its capacity to address the need of being able to undertake context-specific evaluatory research or the overall complexity.

Trait Activation Theory: A Review of the Literature and Applications to Five Lines of Personality Dynamics Research

Extending interactionist principles and targeting situational specificity of trait–performance linkages, trait activation theory (TAT) posits personality traits are expressed as valued work behavior in response to trait-relevant situational cues, subject to constraints and other factors, all operating at the task, social, and organizational levels. Review of 99 key sources citing TAT spanning 2011–2019 reveals diverse applications (e.g., bidirectionality, trait specificity, team building) and an overall 60% significance rate for 262 TAT-based moderator effects reported in 60 of 75 empirical studies. Applying five key aspects of TAT (e.g., behavior/performance distinction, need-based motivation) to five lines of personality dynamics research (e.g., personality states, self-regulation models of motivation) supports TAT as a vehicle for advancing understanding of within-person variability over brief and extended timelines. Critical research needs include personality-oriented work analysis, longitudinal study of trait-situation processes, trait activation in teams, within-job bidirectionality, and situation relevance as a unifying principle in advancing person–workplace fit.

Driving Insights via Processes of Socioemotional Being and Becoming

Being able to transcend disciplinarity in the development of effective strategies for the communication of insights in business is pivotal to progressive development and dynamic processes of change management. The unique cultural and situational specificity of military life has a long recognised and multifactorial impact on lives lived in active service, and veteran retirement is the focus of this chapter. This is highlighted via a consideration of how understanding the nature of ‘self' is epistemologically determined by human capacity to make meaning of experience, to reflect on the pre-existing of historical memories, and perhaps, most significantly of all, to formulate a reflexive and proactive response to the future. The situated nature of military service provides the chapter with a means of examining the fundamental nature of knowledge and ways of knowing, interpretation, and processes of meaning making transcend several fields of individual knowledge, such as philosophy, social science, medical science, psychology, and faith.

Characteristic and Agentic Qualities of Women Leaders Amidst Global Crises

This chapter serves to deconstruct the characteristic and agentic qualities of women leaders amidst global crises, which are also reflected in the traits of women managing in more recognisable and relatable leadership roles in the context of HE. Within this will be the core acknowledgements that on a global level the impact of crises inevitably leads to a disproportionate impact on women, a lack of prioritisation of global impetus to address levels of gender inequality, and the embedded role of gender equity in relation to human progression and development on a macro level. This global perspective illuminates the inequalities that women educators face and the impact that this has on the broader scope of human development through educational impact. Whilst situational specificity is significant in terms of the context of HE leadership, the universality of human experience underpinning them remains the connecting thread, which enables the deconstruction of meaning making in applied educational leadership.

The Assessment and Development of Oppositionality

The main aim of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of the development of oppositionality. For this purpose, five empirical studies were conducted, of which the first three focused on the assessment of oppositionality and the last two focused on the development of oppositionality and its associated outcomes. This chapter aims to integrate the results from these studies. For this purpose, the separate studies will be summarized and discussed with regard to several key issues: (1) the (developmental) significance of oppositionality during early adolescence; (2) the value of self-reported oppositionality; (3) situational specificity; (4) and gender differences. These issues can be considered as common themes that run throughout multiple chapters of this thesis. In addition, this chapter includes some methodological considerations, discusses the clinical implications of our results, and provides recommendations for future research efforts based on the strengths and limitations of our studies.

Validity Generalization as a Continuum

Tett, Hundley, and Christiansen (2017) make a compelling case against meta-analyses that focus on mean effect sizes (e.g., rxy and ρ) while largely disregarding the precision of the estimate and true score variance. This is a reasonable point, but meta-analyses that myopically focus on mean effects at the expense of variance are not examples of validity generalization (VG)—they are examples of bad meta-analyses. VG and situational specificity (SS) fall along a continuum, and claims about generalization are confined to the research question and the type of generalization one is seeking (e.g., directional generalization, magnitude generalization). What Tett et al. (2017) successfully debunk is an extreme position along the generalization continuum significantly beyond the tenets of VG that few, if any, in the research community hold. The position they argue against is essentially a fixed-effects assumption, which runs counter to VG. Describing VG in this way is akin to describing SS as a position that completely ignores sampling error and treats every between-sample difference in effect size as true score variance. Both are strawmen that were knocked down decades ago (Schmidt et al., 1985). There is great value in debating whether a researcher should or can argue for generalization, but this debate must start with (a) an accurate portrayal of VG, (b) a discussion of different forms of generalization, and (c) the costs of trying to establish universal thresholds for VG.

Generalizability Versus Situational Specificity in Adverse Impact Analysis: Issues in Data Aggregation

Tett, Hundley, and Christiansen (2017) argue that the concept of validity generalization in meta-analysis is a myth, as the variability of the effect size appears to decrease with increasing moderator specificity such that the level of precision needed to deem an estimate “generalizable” is actually reached at levels of situational specificity that are so high as to (paradoxically) refute an inference of generalizability. This notion highlights the need to move away from claiming that effects are either “generalizable” or “situationally specific” and instead look more critically and less dichotomously at degrees of generalizability, or effect size variability.

Meta-Analysis and the Myth of Generalizability

Rejecting situational specificity (SS) in meta-analysis requires assuming that residual variance in observed correlations is due to uncorrected artifacts (e.g., calculation errors). To test that assumption, 741 aggregations from 24 meta-analytic articles representing seven industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology domains (e.g., cognitive ability, job interviews) were coded for moderator subgroup specificity. In support of SS, increasing subgroup specificity yields lower mean residual variance per domain, averaging a 73.1% drop. Precision in mean rho (i.e., low SD(rho)) adequate to permit generalizability is typically reached at SS levels high enough to challenge generalizability inferences (hence, the “myth of generalizability”). Further, and somewhat paradoxically, decreasing K with increasing precision undermines certainty in mean r and Var(r) as meta-analytic starting points. In support of the noted concerns, only 4.6% of the 741 aggregations met defensibly rigorous generalizability standards. Four key questions guiding generalizability inferences are identified in advancing meta-analysis as a knowledge source.

The validation of an assessment centre in Asia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to attempt to assess the validity of an assessment centre (AC) designed for the promotional purposes of police officers, conducted in the Asian context. Design/methodology/approach – The study included 128 police officers of whom criterion data was available for 49 officers. They all took part in an established AC. Findings – The overall AC rating was significantly related to both overall training performance (r=0.58, p<0.01) and estimated leadership potential data (r=0.25, p<0.05), both collected two years subsequent to the promotion process. Analyses further supported the situational specificity of the AC design; with particular exercises and performance traits underlying the predictive value of the AC. It also showed the incremental validity of the AC methodology over and above personality measures. Social implications – The study supports the continual usage of the AC methodology across cultural contexts. Originality/value – As far as we know this research has not been done in this part of the world.