Friday, 27 October 2023, the FEB UGM Master of Science and Doctoral Program again held thesis training with material on various methods for testing Common Method Bias, by presenting Mr. Dr. Ridwan Saptoto, S.Psi., MA., Psychologist as speaker. This activity, which must be attended by students who are pursuing their thesis, is held offline at the BRI Auditorium, Fl. 3 Master of Science and Doctoral Building FEB UGM.
At the beginning of his presentation, Dr. Ridwan Saptoto, S.Psi., MA., Psychologist explained in detail about Common Method Bias, which is currently one of the tests required in reputable publications. Common Method Bias is a bias caused by method variance caused by the measurement method and not by the construct represented by the measurement and thus can give rise to systematic errors (Podakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, and Podsakoff, 2003). In research, variance caused by data collection methods occurs frequently in the fields of research on marketing (15.8%) and education (30.5%). Meanwhile, variance caused by the type of measurement mostly occurs in behavioral measurements (40.7%) and performance (22.5%). Common Method Bias can basically be overcome procedurally and statistically. When you can control procedurally then statistics are no longer needed, procedural testing is quite difficult to do so many people use statistical testing.
Furthermore, Mr. Ridwan also explained that there are sources that cause Common Method Bias, namely the tendency of respondents to give consistent answers (common rater), similar item characteristics and contexts, as well as data collection carried out at the same time for different variables. different. Researchers can overcome this by providing an appropriate time lag. In general, one way to avoid Common Method Bias in research is not to use the same method to obtain data from two different variables. Then, identification of Common Method Bias can also be done by conducting statistical tests through the VIF Test, Harman’s Test and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.
After the presentation of the material, all participants were invited to practice identifying Common Method Bias in research. The discussion went well as evidenced by the participants’ activeness in asking various questions. It is hoped that this activity can sharpen students’ understanding in conducting research that can be published.