Military Downsizing, Article Review Example

State the research problem or issue in the study.

The issue within this study is to analyze the effects that military downsizing has on the career prospects of young ex-military soldiers in the non-military workforce.

State the hypothesis/questions or objectives. Were they stated clearly?

There were several questions asked within this research study.The first question was how successful learned job tasks translated into non-military positions in the real world.The second question sought to analyze the success rates by which ex-soldiers were able to obtain non-military positions in the workforce while also tracking statistics to show the overall time period by which these individuals maintained employment.Finally, the researchers also looked to analyze whether the workforce today is better trained than in the past in terms of overall education and training received outside the workplace and the degree by which the training in the military is preparing members of the military for the non-military workforce.

What questionnaires/survey instruments were used to answer the problem?

The researchers used two key research tools to analyze this problem.The first tool was a survey conducted on ex-soldiers from the late 1990s to provide statistics on employment and wage statistics along with demographic information such as age, military service and education earned.The researchers then conducted personal interviews with the same responders to inquire military training obtained during service and military training translating to the non-military workforce.

What was the population used in the study? Was there a sample used? If so, how was the sample selected? How many were in the sample?

The researchers solicited 10,401 ex-military professionals to respond to the questionnaires.The researchers only received responses from 3,567 men and women.This population included 2,978 men and 589 women between the ages of 23-56 years of age.The initial solicitations were sent to individuals whose Army or Navy military services ended between the years 1978 – 1988.

What were the statistical techniques (Examples: mean, median, mode, ANOVA, MANOVA, regression analysis, etc) used to analyze the data?

The researchers used the mean statistics to analyze the total number of service years, education obtained outside the military and the average time period ex-military personnel maintained employment at each position.Finally, the researchers used ANOVA variance analyses to showcase the impact that different variable factors held on the results of the study.

Bibliography

Barley, S. R. (1998). Military downsizing and the career prospects of youths. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 559(1), 141-157.