Critical Incident Technique Interviews Research Articles

Development of a Tool for Measuring and Analyzing Computer User Satisfaction

This paper reports on a technique for measuring and analyzing computer user satisfaction. Starting with the literature and using the critical incident interview technique, 39 factors affecting satisfaction were identified. Adapting the semantic differential scaling technique, a questionnaire for measuring satisfaction was then created. Finally, the instrument was pilot tested to prove its validity and reliability. The results of this effort and suggested uses of the questionnaire are reported here.

An investigation of motivational factors among base-level Air Force civil engineers

The United States Air Force is currently experiencing a severe shortage of scientific, engineering, and technical personnel. One of the career fields in the Air Force which is affected by this shortage is the Civil Engineering career field. Approximately half of the 1844 officers in the field are assigned to positions at the base level. Since it has been determined by numerous studies that job satisfaction is significantly lower among military officers than among their civilian counterparts, it was desired to explore the motivational factors among this group of base-level engineers in order to determine whether local supervisors could significantly affect job satisfaction and motivation. All base-level civil engineers at three installations were surveyed, using the critical incident interview technique. Additionally, each officer was asked to express his feelings about the most important motivational factors in the career field, and to offer suggestions to improve the career field. Since the patterned interview was essentially a replicate of Herzberg's techniques, the interviews were analyzed in light of the motivation—hygiene theory. Using Herzberg's methods, 11 of the 16 job factors defined by the theory were found to be significantly differentiated as motivators or hygiene factors or weighted in the direction predicted by the theory. All of the factors listed as motivators are within the power of base-level supervisors to control, but there appears to be a need for awareness of the importance of motivation, and training in application of motivational theory.