BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EBMGT
Evidence-based management is about making decisions
through the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the best
available evidence from what four sources?
Practitioners, scientific literature, organizational data, and
stakeholders
In acquiring information/evidence from practitioners, whom
should you seek out?
Practitioners with a high level of expertise
What four factors must be present for true expertise to
develop?
(1) Domain is narrow/specific, (2) numerous opportunities to practice,
(3) direct/objective feedback, and (4) a regular/predictable work
environment
Employees get identical coffee, but half are told it is a focus-
enhancing blend. That group reports better concentration and
works faster. What explains it?
The placebo effect
In acquiring evidence from science, one would want to
primarily seek evidence from _______ journals.
Peer-reviewed
In asking questions and defining problems/solutions, it helps
to formulate a PICOC, which stands for:
Population, intervention, comparison, outcome, context
What is a particularly efficient approach to getting
information (quantitative or qualitative data) from a large group
of practitioners?
Conduct a survey
A hiring manager strongly prefers candidates from their
alma mater and ignores data showing that graduates from other
schools perform just as well. This is an example of what cognitive
bias?
Confirmation bias
A marketing firm conducts a survey about consumer
preferences by only polling customers at their flagship store in
New York City. When they expand the strategy nationwide,
sales drop significantly. What methodological mistake did they
make?
Selection or sampling bias
What free, online, research-based search engine was
demonstrated in class for locating scientific research studies on
management topics?
Google scholar or Consensus (free version)
What are the first three steps in evidence-based
management (i.e., the first three A's)?
Asking, acquiring, and appraising
_______ are good for acquiring qualitative information from
practitioners/experts, but can be prone to groupthink.
Focus groups
A lawyer is in the bottom 20% of his law firm with regard to
working collaboratively in a team, but perceives himself to be a
well above average team player. What is the name of this effect
(or cognitive bias)?
Dunning-Kruger Effect (or overconfidence bias)
Workplace conflict reduces employee satisfaction because
it makes workers feel personally insulted. What role does feeling
insulted play?
It is a mediator
What is the name for the approach to searching for
research studies in which you start by searching keywords and
synonyms, based on the PICOC?
"Building blocks" method
Evidence-based management begins with asking questions.
The main function of asking questions is to identify ________.
Assumptions (i.e., regarding problems and solutions)
What is the approach in which a facilitator sends a
questionnaire to a group of practitioners/experts, who each
respond independently, the facilitator then sends a summary
report and allows the practitioners to revise their responses, and
iterates until a predetermined stopping point?
Delphi method
Research on approaches to "de-bias" employees indicates
that _______ have shown some promise in reducing
overconfidence, hindsight bias, and anchoring effects.
Cognitive strategies
What is the name of the research design/study in which a
large number of data or variables are gathered at one point in
time (including independent and dependent variables), and
which cannot be used to determine/infer cause and effect?
Cross-sectional study
A researcher who begins with a seminal/influential meta-
analysis from 10 years ago, and then searches for all of the
studies/papers that have since cited that original source, is using
what approach to searching the scientific literature?
"Snowball" method
Who is considered to be the "founding mother" of evidence-
based management?
Denise M. Rousseau
What is the name for this type of (bad) survey question:
"Do you feel that your manager provides clear instructions and
supports your professional growth?"
Double-barreled question
Research covered in class by Macnamara et al. (2014)
found that deliberate practice had a ______ effect on
performance for professions (small, med, or large, based on
Cohen's rules of thumb)?
Small (less than 1% for professions)
A study finds that a new customer loyalty program
increases monthly sales by .05% compared to the existing
program. The research design is rigorous, and the p-value is .01,
indicating statistical significance. The implementation costs are
high. Should you implement the new program? Why/why not?
No, .05% is probably not practically relevant, considering the program
is costly to implement.
With regard to the different sections of a typical scientific
journal article, the folks at CEBMa recommend skimming some
sections, but which do they suggest actually reading?
The abstract, method section, and conclusion