Methods to collect information for the job analysis:

following methods may be used to collect information for job analysis:

Questionnaire: this method is usually used to obtain information about jobs through a mail survey. The job incumbents who can easily express themselves in writing are asked to provide data about their jobs in their own words. This method is, therefore, best suited to critical workers. But it is often a very time consuming and Labourites process to analyze the data obtained in this manner.

Checklist: this method requires the worker to check the task he performs from a long list of possible task statements. However, in order to prepare the checklist, extensive preliminary work is required in collecting appropriate task statements. While checklist is easy for the incumbent to respond to, they do not provide an integrated picture of the job in the question. They are easily administrated to large groups and are easy to tabulate.

Interview: in this method a group of representative job incumbent are selected for extensive interview usually outside of the actual job situation. The interview may be carried out either individually on in a group of save time. The replies obtained from the interviews are then combined into a single job description. This method through very costly and time consuming helps in getting a complete picture of the job.

Observation: this method can be followed right on the job. The analyst observes the incumbent as he performs his work and questions him to get the required data. Besides being slow and costly, this method also interfaces with normal work operations. However, it generally produces a good and complete job description. This method is particularly desirable when manual operations are prominent and where the work cycle is short. Working conditions and hazards can also be better described when observed personally by the analyst.

Participation: in this method the job analyst actually performs the job himself. In this way he is able to obtain first hand information about what characteristics comprise the job under investigation. This method is fairly good for the simple jobs but in case of complex jobs advance training of the analyst becomes necessary. The method is also time consuming and expensive.