A manufacturing company wants to study the effect of a factory shift reduction (reducing shifts from 8 hours to 6 hours) on employee productivity. Outline how a researcher would apply the interrupted time-series design with nonequivalent groups to structure this study, specifying how measurements should be collected across the groups.
Question: A manufacturing company wants to study the effect of a factory shift reduction (reducing shifts from 8 hours to 6 hours) on employee productivity. Outline how a researcher would apply the interrupted time-series design with nonequivalent groups to structure this study, specifying how measurements should be collected across the groups.
Sample answer: The researcher would select two different factory plants (e.g., Plant 1 as the treatment group and Plant 2 as the control group) without random assignment. They would collect multiple productivity measurements at regular intervals (e.g., weekly) at both plants for a period before the change. Then, they would implement the shift reduction only in Plant 1 while keeping Plant 2 unchanged, and continue collecting weekly productivity measurements in both plants for an extended period afterward.
Key points:
- Assigns Factory Plant 1 as the treatment group and Factory Plant 2 as the nonequivalent control group.
- Specifies taking multiple measurements of productivity at regular intervals (e.g., weekly) both before and after the shift reduction.
- Demonstrates how to structure the study to compare baseline and post-intervention trends between the two plants.
Rubric: The response should outline a setup that includes a treatment plant and a control plant (nonequivalent groups), details taking multiple measurements of productivity at regular intervals before and after the shift reduction, and compares the trends between the two groups.
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