Identifying and addressing the limitations of safety climate surveys
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Authors
O'Connor, Paul
Buttrey, Samuel E.
O'Dea, Angela
Kennedy, Quinn
Subjects
Safety climate
Safety culture
Survey
Questionnaire
Measurement error
Safety culture
Survey
Questionnaire
Measurement error
Advisors
Date of Issue
2011
Date
Publisher
Journal of Safety Research
Language
Abstract
There are a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools for measuring safety climate. However, questionnaires are by far the most commonly used methodology. This paper reports the descriptive analysis of a large sample of safety climate survey data (n=110,014) collected over ten years from U.S. Naval aircrew using the Command Safety Assessment Survey (CSAS). The analysis demonstrated that there was substantial non-random response bias associated with the data (the reverse worded items had a unique pattern of responses, there was a increasing tendency over time to only provide a modal response, the responses to the same item towards the beginning and end of the questionnaire did not correlate as highly as might be expected, and the faster the questionnaire was completed the higher the frequency of modal responses). It is suggested that the non-random responses bias was due to the negative effect on participant motivation of a number of factors (questionnaire design, lack of a belief in the importance of the response, participant fatigue, and questionnaire administration). Researchers must consider the factors that increase the likelihood of non- random measurement error in safety climate survey data and cease to rely on data
that are solely collected using a long and complex questionnaire.
Type
Article
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Operations Research
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
This paper was supported by funding from the Defense Safety Oversight Council
Funder
Format
27 p.
Citation
O’Connor, P., Buttrey, S, O’Dea, A., & Kennedy, Q. (2011).Identifying and addressing the limitations of safety climate surveys.
Journal of Safety Research, 42, 259-265.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.