A Database for a Changing Economy Review of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) (2010) / Chapter Skim
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9 Uses in Research
9 Uses in Research
Pages 171-184
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From page 171... ...
Such information is critical for developing education and workforce training policies; for assessing the impact of potentially disruptive economic forces, such as the rise of international offshoring; for evaluating how recent technological changes, such as the computer revolution, are reshaping job skill requirements; and for understanding the degree to which U.S. natives and foreign immigrants compete or, alternatively, occupy distinct and potentially complementary niches, in the labor market.
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From page 172... ...
Broad occupational categories, by contrast, provide a more precise sense of what tasks workers do on the job -- for example, accountants perform bookkeeping and other quantitative and analytical reasoning tasks -- but these occupational categories do not facilitate comparisons of job skill requirements across jobs. For example, how do the skill requirements of operators, fabricators, and laborers compare with those of workers in farm occupations?
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From page 173... ...
, Tasks, Work Styles, and Work Context measures have all been employed by researchers collecting their own data but wishing to examine a research question pilot surveys. They offer small samples and are not slated to be refreshed on an ongoing basis to provide information on changing job skill requirements.
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From page 174... ...
NET questionnaires have been used by researchers in human resources and organizational behavior to address a wide range of questions regarding job characteristics, such as how job characteristics relate to worker satisfaction and health and how they inform selection and training of workers. Economic and Labor Market Research The O*
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From page 175... ...
By providing a tool for looking within occupations, O* NET affords researchers the opportunity to better assess how computerization, offshoring, and immigration differentially affect distinct job categories according to their core task requirements.
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From page 176... ...
NET content model reflects the earlier content model of the Advisory Panel for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (1993) incorporating "everything about jobs that had been studied, in the name of explaining occupational choices, occupational performance, and work/occupational satisfaction." The result is an array of survey questions, which, to researchers not deeply versed in the history of O*
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From page 177... ...
NET job content measures are so complex and vague as to leave doubt as to whether they measure a single, well-defined construct. For example, Item 30 of the Skills questionnaire asks respondents to rate the importance of Systems Evaluation, defined as "Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system" (National Center for O*
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From page 178... ...
While respondent burden is a necessary cost of surveying, excessive length and complexity erode the quality of survey results in two ways. First, all else equal, greater respondent burden reduces survey responses rates, thus shrinking the sample size and potentially skewing its representativeness.
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From page 179... ...
This history suggests that DOL may not have given due consideration to the costs that a lengthy and complex survey instrument would impose on other dimensions of data quality. The fact that DOL currently must, for each occupation, survey three different sets of job incumbents and also occupational experts and occupational analysts, to obtain the requisite data on the seven primary domains substantially elevates the cost of administering O*
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From page 180... ...
Although researchers, especially those in labor market studies and human resource research, increasingly rely on O* NET, they are hindered in their analyses by not having ready access to demographic and other data on respondents -- such as education, age, gender, and race -- at both the aggregate occupation level and the individual respondent level.
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From page 181... ...
Federal statistical agencies have developed several approaches to managing access to data sets, such as removing all direct and indirect identifiers, making confidentiality edits, restricting access to qualified researchers who agree to confidentiality protections, and establishing disclosure review boards to oversee all data sharing activities (National Research Council, 2007, 2009)
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From page 182... ...
These policies should include appropriate techniques to protect indi vidual privacy, such as restricting access to qualified researchers who agree to confidentiality protections. REFERENCES Advisory Panel for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.
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From page 183... ...
The O* NET content model: Strengths and limitations.
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From page 184... ...
. Dictionary of occupational titles: Revised fourth edition.
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