6. Is an attempt made to test the hypothesis (es)?
Yes. To the extent the hypothesis was that different types of managers would express different views, that hypothesis was tested by the concept mapping methodology.
7. What is your assessment of how well the author(s) relate the findings to the original question or hypothesis?
The authors seem to have related the findings very directly to the implied hypothesis. The results presented the similarities and differences in the perspectives of the two subject groups.
8. Is the research design specifically stated; what design did they used?
Yes. The authors employed a concept mapping methodology to identify clusters of ideas that could be expressed as being characteristic beliefs and views of the two different groups of subjects and analyzed qualitatively.
9. Is there a comparison and/or control group?
No. The study was a direct comparison of the two groups of subjects.
10. Does the author discuss validity and/or reliability of the instrumentation used?
No.
11. Finally, summarize your assessment of the article, including whether you think the article achieves its originally stated purpose. How well written...
It achieves its implied purpose because it does identify explicit beliefs and attitudes of managers and identifies characteristic differences in the respective approaches of different managers based on their specific responsibilities and positions within organizations. If there were any weaknesses in the article, it would only be that the study was conducted on such a small number of subjects instead of representing a larger number of identical inquiries. The article would be highly relevant to practice, precisely because chronic illness is such an important employee retention issue and because management response can either mitigate or exacerbate the related problems. I would recommend the article to any working person facing chronic illness and to any professional manager or HRM professional. Finally, the study is highly replicable by conducting the same survey with different subjects.
