1.

1. what are the strengths of the project below?

2. What are the weaknesses of the project below?

Abstract

Does knowing a colleague's political position influence workplace communication? We were interested in knowing how the intense emotions of today's hot-button issues impact communication in the workplace. Does workplace activism creat a hostile work environment? Can people work well together when they stand on opposing sides of the important issues of today?

We took a convenience sample by posting to Facebook and asking friends and relatives to complete the survey. 51 people responded. The outcome or 'dependent' variable of the research question is "freedom of expression" or the comfort one feels expressing their views and beliefs in alignment with company policies. What we found was that the population surveyed does not feel one way or the other about whether knowing a colleague's political position influences workplace communication.

Researching Communication in the Workplace

We hypothesized that people would feel that knowing someone's political views would influence workplace communication. Provided a person works a full time work schedule, they are spending close to a third of their day at the workplace. This means that the quality of the communication in the workplace can have a great impact on the overall quality of an employees life. Part of workplace communication is the feeling that you have the freedom to express yourself and express your opinions, and whether or not those opinions will be respected by others in that workplace community. This research seeks to better understand the workplace environments we creat, and how people feel that they are able to communicate with each other within those environments. People who work with others are the people we are focused on researching.

Method

Measures

We had one quantitative variable and used the single sample t-test to estimate a single population mean.

See The Appendix for scales

Our scales were developed by identifying the positive and negative statements associated with communication in the workplace and comfort level of expressing oneself politically in the workforce as well. We each made a list of questions related to the subject and worked together to determine which would be most suitable for our research. We determined together which would be most appropriate to "flip" and ask in the negative sense.

Participants

We posted the survey on Facebook and asked friends and family to complete. We collected 51 responses.

Demographics:

# counts for Age.Group

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and older

4 8 22 5 8 4

# percentages for Age.Group

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and older

7.84 15.69 43.14 9.80 15.69 7.84

# counts for Education.Level

Associates degree or equivalent professional certificate

23

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional certificate

10

Doctorate

1

High school diploma or equivalent

14

High school diploma or equivalent;Associates degree or equivalent professional certificate

1

Master's degree

2

# percentages for Education.Level

Associates degree or equivalent professional certificate

45.10

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional certificate

19.61

Doctorate

1.96

High school diploma or equivalent

27.45

High school diploma or equivalent;Associates degree or equivalent professional certificate

1.96

Master's degree

3.92

# counts for Ethnicity

Black/African American Hispanic/Latino Other Prefer not to say White/Caucasian

1 3 1 2 44

# percentages for Ethnicity

Black/African American Hispanic/Latino Other Prefer not to say White/Caucasian

1.96 5.88 1.96 3.92 86.27

# counts for Income.Level

$100k to $150k $10k to $50k $50k to $100k Below $10k Below

9 18 19 1

Over $150k

3

$100k to $150k $10k to $50k $50k to $100k Below $10k Below $10k;Over $150k

17.65 35.29 37.25 1.96 1.96

Over $150k

5.88

Analysis Plan

The single variable we had was a person's comfort with knowing political views of colleagues in the workplace.

Our variable is quantitative because we are measuring on a scale of 0-4.

We will use a single sample t-test with tails. We tested if mu is neutral (2).

Results

Descriptive statistics: X bar = 1.8655, s = .6558, n = 51

20 15 frequency 10 5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 variable