Measurement of Mentoring Program Outcomes: A Systematic Multiple Studies Review

The purpose of this research study was to investigate how mentoring is measured and assessed in the workplace by reviewing and synthesizing qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies that appear in the professional literature. Mentoring programs are common practice in the workplace. The one-on-one nature of a formal mentoring program creates outcomes that benefit the protégé throughout their career in three ways: onboarding, retention at an organization, and career advancement. However, mentoring programs are expensive, both in terms of direct monetary cost and the time it takes to complete the tasks associated with mentoring, making measurement of outcomes critical for organizations. The primary question of this study was: how do organizations assess the outcomes of mentoring programs? There were three sub-questions that will provide the details to the primary question: what are the assessed outcomes of mentoring programs; what quantitative measures and scales do organizations use to assess mentoring programs; how do organizations qualitatively assess mentoring programs? The study was conducted using a systematic multiple studies review (MSR) to answer the research questions. The researcher followed the seven steps of the MSR process as outlined by Petticrew and Roberts (2006). The researcher used the systematic process to narrow an initial search result of 4,795 articles down to the final twenty which included qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research written between 2012 and 2018 about outcomes of participants in formal mentor programs in the business environment. The key results found during this study were that organizations have measured mentor program outcomes by focusing on seven key themes: career resilience, career success, employee engagement, mutual development, personal learning, protégé satisfaction and professional exposure. Of those themes, the most measured outcome themes by quantitative methods were career success, professional exposure and personal learning. Qualitative assessment in the studies used in this MSR focused on career success and mutual development. Fifteen of the seventeen qualitative studies in this MSR measured outcomes of mentoring by survey of the protégé and/or mentor. The remaining two qualitative studies measured outcomes by extant data. Both qualitative studies assessed mentoring outcomes via interview. The mixed methods study used both interview and survey. The desired benefits and the expense of formal mentoring programs show the importance of evaluating the outcomes. This MSR shows that mentoring can be evaluated successfully using quantitative methods, especially by survey, and qualitatively, especially by interview. When determining what to evaluate, an organization needs to consider which outcomes to focus on then align their study to those specific themes, as the studies in this MSR have modeled. Rather than focusing on only the quality of the mentoring experience or satisfaction with mentoring, evaluation should focus tying the mentoring experience to outcomes like job satisfaction, level of employee engagement, and adjustment to new job environments to show the organizational impact of a formal mentor program

Pelagic larval duration links life history traits and species persistence in Darters (Percidae: Etheostomatinae)

Pelagic larval duration (PLD) likely influences evolutionary processes including dispersal, genetic connectivity, and extinction in aquatic organisms. PLD has been well studied in marine systems, but very few freshwater species have been studied. Darters are a diverse group of freshwater North American fish with available information on the length of this stage from propagation efforts. There is surprising variation in the length of this stage ranging from 0 to 60 days. By compiling information from Conservations Fisheries, Inc. (Knoxville, TN) and the literature, we were able to make comparisons between the PLD of 23 species and other life history characteristics. We hypothesized that 1) PLD will influence developmental characteristics and reflect tradeoffs at these critical stages 2) a higher extinction risk should associate with lower PLD. Size at yolk absorption was found to have a marginally significant, relationship with PLD, but juvenile size and maximum size were found to have positive relationships. These relationships indicate a possible developmental tradeoff between larval survival and potential size and that pelagic larval duration in darters is greatly influenced by life history characteristics. Additionally, through a phylogenetic comparative analysis, we found lower PLD in darter lineages was evolutionarily associated with extinction risk, which is similar to patterns commonly recovered from the marine fossil record. These findings provide some of the first support in extant taxa for the hypothesis that PLD is an important determinant of extinction. This study indicates that PLD is highly influential in species life history characteristics and predictions of species’ persistence

Introduction to News Media Law and Policy in Jordan

The goal of this volume is to examine and assess the legal environment-the institutions, laws, and practices in which news media operate in Jordan. It is designed for those in Jordan for whom information and communication is important: citizens, government officials, organizations or civil society, indeed, almost everyone. We seek to describe the system of laws and policies, including basic rights, that affect the way in which information and ideas about public affairs are selected, packaged, distributed, and received. We try to place rules and regulations in context, at least a public context. It is impossible, here, to describe the complex history, the religious institutions, the geopolitical events and other very considerable matters that affect how speech flows. We concentrate, therefore, on press and media laws and their implementation

Concentration Measurements in a Cold Flow Model Annular Combustor Using Laser Induced Fluorescence

A nonintrusive concentration measurement method is developed for determining the concentration distribution in a complex flow field. The measurement method consists of marking a liquid flow with a water soluble fluorescent dye. The dye is excited by a two dimensional sheet of laser light. The fluorescent intensity is shown to be proportional to the relative concentration level. The fluorescent field is recorded on a video cassette recorder through a video camera. The recorded images are analyzed with image processing hardware and software to obtain intensity levels. Mean and root mean square (rms) values are calculated from these intensity levels. The method is tested on a single round turbulent jet because previous concentration measurements have been made on this configuration by other investigators. The previous results were used to comparison to qualify the current method. These comparisons showed that this method provides satisfactory results. 'Me concentration measurement system was used to measure the concentrations in the complex flow field of a model gas turbine annular combustor. The model annular combustor consists of opposing primary jets and an annular jet which discharges perpendicular to the primary jets. The mixing between the different jet flows can be visualized from the calculated mean and rms profiles. Concentration field visualization images obtained from the processing provide further qualitative information about the flow field

Design of Phase II cancer trials evaluating survival probabilities

BACKGROUND: Phase II cancer studies are undertaken to assess the activity of a new drug or a new treatment regimen. Activity is sometimes defined in terms of a survival probability, a binary outcome such as one-year survival that is derived from a time-to-event variable. Phase II studies are usually designed with an interim analysis so they can be stopped if early results are disappointing. Most designs that allow for an interim look are not appropriate for monitoring survival probabilities since many patients will not have enough follow-up by the time of the interim analysis, thus necessitating an inconvenient suspension of accrual while patients are being followed. METHODS: Two-stage phase II clinical trial designs are developed for evaluating survival probabilities. These designs are compared to fixed sample designs and to existing designs developed to monitor binomial probabilities to illustrate the expected reduction in sample size or study length possible with the use of the proposed designs. RESULTS: Savings can be realized in both the duration of accrual and the total study length, with the expected savings increasing as the accrual rate decreases. Misspecifying the underlying survival distribution and the accrual rate during the planning phase can adversely influence the operating characteristics of the designs. CONCLUSION: Two-stage phase II trials for assessing survival probabilities can be designed that do not require prolonged suspension of patient accrual. These designs are more efficient than single stage designs and more practical than existing two-stage designs developed for binomial outcomes, particularly in trials with slow accrual