The motivation and morale questions were first added to the 2014 DWP Survey and now cover 8 years of data. Please see the accompanying Methodology document for further information on the development and analysis of the questions and assumption testing for the multivariate analysis found in the motivation chapters of this report. The motivation and morale questions are listed below and are asked for both years covered in each survey (please see Annex A for a copy of the entire survey). In built validation rules mean that dentists must answer every question to complete the survey, so the motivation data is not distorted by missing data.
Motivation Questions |
Category |
A. |
I feel good about my job as a dentist |
Self |
B. |
I receive recognition for the work I do1 |
Others |
C. |
I feel my pay is fair2 |
Pay |
D. |
I have all the equipment and resources I need to do my job properly |
Equipment |
E. |
My job gives me the chance to do challenging and interesting work |
Self |
F. |
There are opportunities for me to progress in my career |
Progression |
Leaving Question |
Category |
G. |
I often think about leaving general dentistry |
Self |
Morale Question |
Category |
H. |
How would you rate your morale as a dentist? |
Environment |
1. Spoken recognition or acknowledgement (i.e. not financial) from colleagues 2. Pre-tax income (after all expenses removed) for primary care dentistry
The analysis considers the responses to the questions in two main ways:
A. Individual Motivation Question Analysis
Results show the percentage of dentists who responded in each Likert category (‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘neutral’ etc) to each question. To help interpretation, responses to the two positive categories (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’) are then combined and an ‘overall average’ figure is also presented which is the average of the ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’ percentage scores for each question. This also compares results for Providing-Performer/Principal dentists and Associates by simple subtraction.
B. Average ‘Motivation Index’
A ‘motivation index’ is calculated for each dentist by taking the average score of their responses to the six motivation questions. Responses are scored from 0% for ‘strongly disagree’ in increments of 25 to 100% for ‘strongly agree’. The highest possible ‘motivation index’ for dentists is 100% and the lowest is 0%.
This is a different methodology to that used in the ‘Individual Motivation Question’ (and ‘Strongly Agree/Agree’) analyses. The average ‘motivation index’ considers the proportion of dentists choosing each Likert category (‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’) for every motivation question to represent all responses as accurately as possible.
The ‘motivation index’ allows the relationship between motivation and different working patterns such as weekly hours of work or NHS/Health Service share to be explored using multivariate analysis. Details about the assumptions made to support this calculation are discussed in Annex D of the accompanying Methodology document.
Motivation band and survey responses
The relationship between the average ‘motivation index’ and working pattern characteristics has been explored by allocating dentists to one of four motivation bands (based on their ‘motivation index’) shown below:
- Very Low (≤25%)
- Neutral & Low (>25% & ≤50%)
- High (>50% & ≤75%)
- Very High (>75%)
Multivariate analysis
A review of the individual questions, the ‘motivation index’ and analysis of motivation band and survey responses suggests that there are relationships between motivation and other variables (such as a dentist’s age or working patterns). However, those analytical techniques do not allow each response to be considered in isolation while holding the other variables constant.
For example, it may be the case that dentists taking five weeks’ annual leave have a higher average ‘motivation index’ than colleagues taking only three. However, dentists taking more annual leave also tend to work fewer weekly hours. This too will affect their motivation, making it difficult to quantify the contribution more weeks’ annual leave has on the ‘motivation index’. Multivariate analysis using multiple linear regression allows each relationship between motivation and specific survey response variables to be explored separately. More detail can be found in the accompanying Methodology document along with supporting technical information relating to statistical significance and adjusted R‑squared values.
The effect of different dental populations
Different groups of dentists may have different levels of motivation and these relationships are explored further. For example, the ‘motivation index’ of part-time dentists may differ from that of full-time dentists when considering the effect of weekly working hours upon motivation. Because of smaller sample sizes in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, this analysis is available only for dentists in England and considers the effect of the dental populations using multivariate analysis for the following subsets of dentists:
- Part-time (<35 weekly hours) or full-time (≥35 hours)
- Mainly NHS (or mainly private) dentists
- Gender
As well as the six motivation questions listed at the start of this Chapter, responses were also elicited from dentists on one question covering morale, as discussed below, as well as a question on leaving general dentistry which is considered in the section entitled Leaving General Dental Practice.
Morale
Unlike motivation, which is usually defined as an individual’s internal drive for behaving in a particular way, morale generally relates to feelings of satisfaction and confidence in life. Motivation and morale are often linked but while higher motivation often leads to higher morale in employees, high morale does not guarantee that employees work more effectively even though they may have a positive attitude towards their work.
Because of the differences between motivation and morale, responses to the morale question are not included in the calculation of average ‘motivation index’ but are analysed separately.
Please note, all dentists who responded to the survey answered every motivation and morale question as well as the question on leaving general dentistry.