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The study in question is An Investigation of Motorists Perceptions of Trucks on the Highways by (Moore, LeMay, Moore, Lidell, Kinard, & McMillen, 2005).The research was published in 2005. The research was carried out as an improvement on literature explored in the exploratory analysis performed on the subject of the investigation. The research constituted a total of three research questions that were established to provide the research with a credible direction and consistency.
The objective of the research behind the article was to develop an understanding of the outlook that casual and everyday motorists hold towards trucks on the highway. The research was carried out in the context of previous researches that were explored in the literature analysis of the research. The survey approach was adopted as the research methodology for the primary data and a very limited yet comprehensive and concise set of questions was established to be implemented.
The study is quite applicable in the fact that the survey approach was brought into use and was implemented through a random sampling technique in which the participants were selected through a technique that qualifies as random sampling.
A fact that comes forth as a shortfall of the research is that the survey questionnaire approach used incorporated only one question regarding the practical experience that motorists had gone through with regard to truck driving while six questions were put forth to assess the motorists perceptions regarding the same. Another aspect of the research that comes forth is that the gender distribution was not kept at an equivalent level. The distribution was such that the female gender participants represented a majority of the sample. This serves to limit the ability of the research to be applicable in a generalized scenario.
It is essential to highlight at this point that while the research may be one that is applicable on the immediate population, i.e. the motorists of the United States, it is not one that can be generalized in regions outside since the distributions of the sample are in compliance with the demographics of the United States. This also serves to bring forth the fact that the researchers have not mentioned the immediate region in which the research was carried out and the only evidence present indicates that the research was carried out through a Mississippi based sample which serves to constrict the generalization of the article all the more.
It was revealed in the findings of the research that motorists regard trucks as contributors to hazardous and generally negative circumstances on the roads. The majority was found to be staggering in this regard. The result also concluded that as one moves from participants who drive trucks less frequently than others, the perception of trucks as a hazardous entity on the roads. What stands for the credibility of these findings is that they were supported with interpretations of previous research studies.
The conclusions of the research however cannot be considered to be warranted without question. This is because of the fact that the authors modified the scale adopted and provided to the survey participants after the results had been collected. During implementation, the participants were provided with a scale of five (5) levels to express their opinion upon. The scale allowed the participants to take a position on a question in a manner such that they had the option to strongly agree, agree, remain neutral, disagree or strongly disagree. Once the answers had been collected, the options of strongly agree and agree were merged into one category while the two options at the opposite extreme were merged into an individual category as well. This serves to raise a question regarding the credibility of the research findings that have been interpreted with respect to the modified scale.
The research also made recommendations with regard to the improvement of the negative perception of trucks on the road and attempted to justify the relevance of each finding with possible improvements that could be brought about in the scenario.
Regardless of the shortfalls of the research, it is essential to note that the research deserves credit in the fact that it is one of the first few to explore the perceptions that motorists hold regarding trucks on the roads. By doing so, the research served to open a new avenue of potential research subjects for future study and examination.
The critical evaluation of the article has allowed us to conclude that the article was primarily a significant contribution to its field. The research carried out in the article was carried out through the simplest of statistical techniques and this serves to add to the credibility of the research findings. However, it also serves to raise the question of the possible outcomes that would have been achieved had the researchers made use of advanced data gathering and analysis techniques. In a broader perspective, the article incorporates all the essentials of a comprehensive and concise article and it is apparent that the researchers have attempted to make the best possible use with limited resources. However, the need for further research in the area of the study was felt strongly and it is perhaps because the researchers made frequent recommendations towards possible areas of the subject upon which research could be carried out in the future.
Reference
Moore, R. S., LeMay, S., Moore, M. L., Lidell, P., Kinard, B., & McMillen, D. (2005). An Investigation of Motorists Perceptions of Trucks on the Highways. Transportation Journal, 22-32.
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