Determination of defence capability requirements

A capability-based planning approach provides defence system with adequate response in facing uncertainty, economic constraints and risks. Determination of required defence capabilities is the most important and complex phase in capability-based planning process. The result of this phase is the list of required capabilities of the defence system. The paper presents method of determination of defence capability requirements and describes practical tools for the identification and the description of required defence capabilities. The capability requirements are identified by perceiving relationships among operational objectives, effects tasks. The capability requirement description contains standards and conditions that clarify necessary capability

Model of scenario development in defense planning: Integration of scenario and decision: Making methods

It is almost impossible to predict the future environment today, so instead of using prediction different methods of scenario development are used. Scenario as a hypothetical situation for future environment enables exploration of different possibilities of environment development in the future. Many methods based on a morphological analysis are used to develop scenarios. Numerous configurations of morphological fields prevent further use of scenarios and a practical description of the various scenarios. It is possible to reduce the number of configuration of morphological fields, classify configuration according to the different scenario classes and determine the representative configuration for the worst and best scenario case for each class of scenarios by integrating the method for scenario development with the decision-making methods. In this way further processing and description of scenarios is enabled, thus fulfilling a practical role of scenarios in the planning process

Employee participation and representation in Central and Eastern Europe

Using data from the 2013 European Company Survey, this article presents a study of employee involvement and participation (EIP) in decision-making in 12 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, a context that is rather less studied but interesting because of its political past and its current emerging economic status. The study explores how these countries can be clustered according to positive employee attitude towards employee representation (ER) and EIP in decision-making. It examines the association between these two components and the effectiveness of the ER body, as well as whether there are differences between country clusters. Finally, the article examines how the degree of EIP in decision-making is related to ER body effectiveness. This research contributes to prior work by seeking to understand EIP in decision-making in an understudied sample of CEE countries and provides an insightful classification

A meeting report: cross-cultural comparability of questionnaire measures in large-scale international surveys

The value of cross-country comparisons is at the heart of large-scale international surveys. Yet the validity of such comparisons is often challenged, particularly in the case of latent traits whose estimates are based on self-reported answers to a small number of questionnaire items. Many believe self-reports to be unreliable and not comparable, and indeed, formal statistical procedures very often reject the assumption that the questions are understood and answered in the same way in different countries (measurement invariance). A methodological conference on the comparability of questionnaire scales was hosted by the OECD on 8 and 9 November 2018. This meeting report summarises the discussions held at the conference about measurement invariance testing and instrument design. The report first provides a brief introduction to the measurement models and the accompanying invariance analyses typically used in the industry of large-scale international surveys and points to the main limitations of these current standard approaches. It then presents classical and novel ways to deal with imperfect comparability of measurements when scaling and reporting on continuous traits and on categorical latent variables. It finally discusses the extent to which item design can improve the cross-country comparability of the measured constructs (e.g. by adopting innovative item formats such as anchoring vignettes and situational judgement test items). It concludes with some general considerations for survey design and reporting on invariance analyses and survey results

The factor structure of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen distinct populations

There is considerable evidence that self-criticism plays a major role in the vulnerability to and recovery from psychopathology. Methods to measure this process, and its change over time, are therefore important for research in psychopathology and well-being. This study examined the factor structure of a widely used measure, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen nonclinical samples (N = 7510) from twelve different countries: Australia (N = 319), Canada (N = 383), Switzerland (N = 230), Israel (N = 476), Italy (N = 389), Japan (N = 264), the Netherlands (N = 360), Portugal (N = 764), Slovakia (N = 1326), Taiwan (N = 417), the United Kingdom 1 (N = 1570), the United Kingdom 2 (N = 883), and USA (N = 331). This study used more advanced analyses than prior reports: a bifactor item-response theory model, a two-tier item-response theory model, and a non-parametric item-response theory (Mokken) scale analysis. Although the original three-factor solution for the FSCRS (distinguishing between Inadequate-Self, Hated-Self, and Reassured-Self) had an acceptable fit, two-tier models, with two general factors (Self-criticism and Self-reassurance) demonstrated the best fit across all samples. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that this two-factor structure can be used in a range of nonclinical contexts across countries and cultures. Inadequate-Self and Hated-Self might not by distinct factors in nonclinical samples. Future work may benefit from distinguishing between self-correction versus shame-based self-criticism.Peer reviewe

Risky business: factor analysis of survey data – assessing the probability of incorrect dimensionalisation

This paper undertakes a systematic assessment of the extent to which factor analysis the correct number of latent dimensions (factors) when applied to ordered categorical survey items (so-called Likert items). We simulate 2400 data sets of uni-dimensional Likert items that vary systematically over a range of conditions such as the underlying population distribution, the number of items, the level of random error, and characteristics of items and item-sets. Each of these datasets is factor analysed in a variety of ways that are frequently used in the extant literature, or that are recommended in current methodological texts. These include exploratory factor retention heuristics such as Kaiser’s criterion, Parallel Analysis and a non-graphical scree test, and (for exploratory and confirmatory analyses) evaluations of model fit. These analyses are conducted on the basis of Pearson and polychoric correlations.We find that, irrespective of the particular mode of analysis, factor analysis applied to ordered-categorical survey data very often leads to over-dimensionalisation. The magnitude of this risk depends on the specific way in which factor analysis is conducted, the number of items, the properties of the set of items, and the underlying population distribution. The paper concludes with a discussion of the consequences of overdimensionalisation, and a brief mention of alternative modes of analysis that are much less prone to such problems

Adult Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills: An Overview of Existing PIAAC Data

As of summer 2019, more than 60 PIAAC datasets from participating countries worldwide were available for research purposes. These datasets can be differentiated, for example, in terms of their accessibility, the extent of the information provided, the population group in focus, and the design of the underlying study. PIAAC Public Use Files, for instance, are freely available and are therefore highly anonymised, whereas PIAAC Scientific Use Files are available only for scientific research purposes and provide access to more detailed variables. The majority of the PIAAC data are available as public use files, but some participating countries (e.g. Germany and the United States) have also made several scientific use files or other extended file versions available to the research community. Some of the available PIAAC datasets focus on specific population groups - for example, the incarcerated adult population in the United States. Regarding the design of the underlying studies, most available datasets are cross-sectional, but some longitudinal data already exist (e.g. PIAAC-L in Germany). The present chapter provides an overview of the structure, accessibility, and use of the PIAAC datasets available worldwide

Model of strategic environmental assessment of the defense system

Strategic environmental assessment enables consideration of situation at some time in order to ensure the development of the defense system so that it can respond to the future security challenges, risks and threats. In order to enhance the level of objectivity of such process, a model of strategic environmental assessment of the defense system has been made by quantitative analysis of the contents of different literature in the sphere of management, security and defense. Since the process is complex, the model is based on the combination of scientific and managerial methods. Preconditions for the application of scenario development model are created by identification of the environmental factors that most affect the defense system, as well as by collection of data on values of such factors in the past and determination of trends of their development and effect on the defense system in the future. Potential effects of factors from the defense system environment are considered by scenario development of the future environment and objectivity and possibility to predict the future environment are increased. Despite increase in objectivity, it is impossible to completely remove the subjective effect on environmental assessment results. The solutions presented in this paper are a possible way to enhance strategic environmental assessment process not only of the defense system, but other organisational systems, as well