CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents a description of the research design selection and description of

respondents, research instruments, data collection procedure, and statistical treatments used.

Research Design

The study was a primary research depending on quantitative data translated to numbers. Data

gathered and assembled specifically for the research project at hand while secondary data, was

data that have been previously collected for some project other than the one at hand. . A cross

sectional one point of time online survey was conducted. The study used an inductive approach

to show the impact of stress during Covid-19 on employees performance in Lebanon . Data for

the current study were collected by E-distribution where the researcher designed the survey on

Google Form website, and then the survey link was circulated to employees around Lebanon

randomly from 12 October to 29 of same month. There are four main variables, the employees’

performance was considered as a dependent variable and job stressors related to COVID-19 were

the independent variables.

HA

HA1

Perception of Safety

HA2
Job Stress Related Employee
to COVID-19 Job Insecurity Performance

HA3

Financial Loss
 Instrument

The author in this research used an online survey in order to achieve the study and

this survey has been discussed with his supervisor and check it for liability and reliability.

The survey was designed and powered by Google form and it was administered and distributed

online via WhatsApp and Facebook, since it is very popular and convenient way to reach all the

participants. This survey consists of 32 questions distributed over five sections, using Likert

Scale (Strongly agree, agree, neutral, strongly disagree, and disagree). (See Appendix).

Section one includes 8 demographic questions concerning the participants’

gender, age, marital status, age, educational level, employment sttaus, monthly salary of

participants, and old aged family members if exist.

Section two includes 5 questions related to the first job stressor, Perception of Safety.

Participants were asked about their knowledge about Covid-19 and preventive measures taken

during this crisis. In addition to pandemic knowledge and health risks, then they were asked

about if they follow media reports related to the number of new cases.

Section three includes 5 questions related to the second job stressor, Job Insecurity and its

importance to most employees participating in the survey. In this section, participants were asked

about their working hours during Covid-19, promotion at work, how they feel threatened. In

addition to job insecure with the high unemployment rated around the world.

Section four was specified to the third job stressor, Financial Loss, where many

employees may be also experiencing greater financial concerns related to Covid-19 pandemic.

Participants in this section answered 5 questions according to Likert Scale, talking about salary

reduction during the pandemic, reduction of social benefits in relation with financial concerns.
Besides that, participants were asked if they have enough means to secure food and housing fotr

them and their families in the coming months, and finally if they agree or disagree that their

financial situation will get worse in the upcoming days during this pandemic and the economic

crisis they are facing in Lebanon.

Last section talks about employees performance, consists of 9 questions that measures how the

performance of employees working during Covid-19 pandemic is affected. In this section,

performance was detected according to its dimensions that include quality, quantity, time,

support, engagement, commitment, and communication.

First, participants in the survey were asked about productivity measures, completing tasks on

time, producing same quality of work during the crisis, level of commitment to job duties during

the COVID-19 crisis, level of interaction and communication level although of social distancing,

level of engagement with the administration and colleagues, managerial support, and working

within groups.

Measures

Likert-5-point type- was used for measuring survey questions, ranged from minimum

scale number 1 (strongly disagree) to maximum scale number 5 (strongly agree).

Scale Points

Strongly agree 5

Agree 4

Neutral 3

Disagree 2

Strongly disagree 1
 Data Analysis Tools and Techniques

 Descriptive Statistics: used simply to describe what’s going on in with the data, to present

quantitative descriptions in a manageable form. (for example, a chart or graph)

 Inferential Statistics: allows to make predictions from that data, and to reach conclusions

that extend beyond the immediate data alone. This includes the t-test, Analysis of

Variance (ANOVA), and pearson correlation.

Population

According to the latest Labour Force and Household Living Conditions Survey

(LFHLCS) conducted in Lebanon in 2018–19, 1.59 million individuals work in Lebanon,

of whom 78.1 percent are Lebanese and 21.9 per cent are non-Lebanese,

comprised mainly of refugees in addition to migrant workers. The employment-to-

population ratio, used as a proxy to measure the performance of the national

economy in providing employment, stood at 43.3 per cent, with 54.9 per cent of workers

informally employed. The composite measure of labour underutilization (LU4), taking

into account unemployment, time-related underemployment and the potential labour

force, stood at 16.2 per cent, with women and young people registering particularly high

rates, at 21.3 per cent and 29.5 per cent,

respectively.

Sampling
 The author has chosen a random sample of 160 employees since he can’t reach the

whole population and he will try to hit as much as possible from the population. However, it

depends on the number currently employed people who accept to participate on the survey.

Procedure

The author prepared the survey in two copies, one in English language and other in

Arabic, to motivate people to respond and answer the questions. The first section of the survey

include a question if the participant is currently employed, so he can press “OK” and continue to

other sections. Then the author launched the link of the survey through whatsapp and facebook,

asking only employees to please press the link and go answer the questions. Then the author has

informed participants about the purpose of the study by introducing himself and the object of

the study and he thank them for their time and support. The participants were informed that the

content of the study and their info will be kept strictly confidential and secure and it will be

used only for this purpose. After the survey was filled by the employees, the responses were

collected through Google Forms.

The study applied a suitable statistical means to analyze the collected data; statistical package

for the social sciences (SPSS) is statistical software can be commonly used to interpret, analyze,

present and predict data in an easiest and very conceivable manner. This statistical software is

most often use by psychologist, statistician, researcher and etc. The software seems to be the

most popular statistical tool ever launch, was utilized in this study to test the descriptive

statistics: Frequency and inferential statistics: One-Way Anova to show the significance

between the variables.