A Content Analysis of Written Comments Regarding the Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS)

Abstract

A content analysis was conducted of 658 open-ended comments (about .3 percent of all respondents) that had been written by respondents filling out the Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS). The content analysis focused on the style (or format) of the MEOCS, the content of the MEOCS, and miscellaneous factors that may have affected completion of the MEOCS. Consistent with previous research, results slanted toward finding evidence of discrimination in the military. Additional concerns included the issue of "reverse discrimination," types of discrimination not covered in the MEOCS, and the ability of some MEOCS items to accurately measure race or sex discrimination. In response to these concerns, several possible changes in the MEOCS are presented and discussed. These changes include developing separate items for measuring race and sex discrimination, reducing redundancy in the MEOCS, modifying the tone of some items, and increasing the number of response options. In addition, the issues of response bias (only .3 percent of all respondents provided written comments) and survey redesign are discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1994
Accession Number
AD1072456

Entities

People

  • James W. Grosch

Organizations

  • Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Bias
  • Discrimination
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Gender Discrimination
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Research
  • Minority Groups
  • Prejudice
  • Psychology
  • Racial Discrimination
  • Sex
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Social Sciences
  • Sociology
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Surveys

Readers

  • Gender and Food Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design