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chas  
#1 Posted : 19 April 2012 10:25:03(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
chas

Just looking for anyone who has had any experience with driver profiling questionnaires. Senior mgt have been told of these systems by our insurers and I am lead to believe that ROSPA have a driver profiling questionnaire 'toolkit'. I was wondering how useful these things are for identifying higher risk drivers within an organisation and whether or not they should be used as a matter of course (ie for all company drivers). I am sceptical but all opinions are welcomed.
KieranD  
#2 Posted : 19 April 2012 10:32:33(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
KieranD

Chas There are several risk profiling questionnaires of this kind. There value depends on the evidence of the level of scientific reliability and validity with which they've been designed. While published information about records of driving behaviour e.g. incidents, accidents, injuries and fatalities, with high levels of reliability and valdiity would be valuable, it's difficult to know how it is compiled or indeed why it would be published in view of its commercial sensitivity. If you state what specific decisions you and your senior management wish to make by using the 'toolkit' or questionnaire to which you refer, I'll see if I can provide some information about tools with well-proven validity in assessing risk behaviour relevant to these decisions.
BuzzLightyear  
#3 Posted : 19 April 2012 12:57:24(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
BuzzLightyear

I once did a trial at doing the ROSPA driver profiler and I was not entirely convinced by it. I can't remember the excact wording of the questions but it asked me to say whether I enjoy driving. I said that I do not. It concluded that that answer made me likely to be a higher risk driver. It also asked me questions that seemed too obvious. For example, something like, "you are approaching a junction and someone cuts in front of you". Do you A, remain calm and let it wash over you or B do you get very angry. I think they have revised it since but like Keiran, Iwould like to see some scientific evidence about the efficacy of these tools. If they do work, they could be very useful because you could use the results to prioiritise which drivers need additional driver training - and the level of training they require - from e-learning to advanced driver training.
KieranD  
#4 Posted : 19 April 2012 13:25:15(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
KieranD

The examples given by 'Buzzlightyear' indicate lack of the most elementary kind of 'face validity', when even 'face valid' questions, i.e. which aren't so obviously transparent, don't support any of other more demanding kinds of validity. If you want to use well-designed measures of risk-taking tendencies, you can find ones published by Hogan Assessments Inc, Tulsa, in the USA and by PCL Consultancy in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Concept mapping may be a more useful way of designing a bespoke process of assessment that meets needs you define yourself. 'Concept Mapping Planning and Research', Mary Kane & William A Trochim, Sage, 2007 is a good guide; Trochim, a professor at Cornell University, is one of the leading gurus on qualitative and quantitative methods. Concept mapping includes using cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling, they can be used with the Excel statistical addin, XLStat. if you wish to use concept mapping but are not familiar with how to apply them, you can pm me.
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