Perceived Fatigue for Short- and Long-Haul Flights

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Research Problem and Rationale
Methodology
Results and Conclusions
Critique
Reference

Introduction

The academic paper picked for the review is the article written by Bourgeois-Bougrine and other scholars in 2003. A study was conducted measuring the level of psychological fatigue among 739 pilots from short and long-haul flights using a questionnaire. Among the main conclusions of the work the notion that night flights and jet lag are the most critical factors generating mental fatigue among the studied pilots can be pointed out. Moreover, Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) concluded that long periods of awakening and poor quality of sleep increase the fatigue rate among the cabin crew.

Research Problem and Rationale

The primary purpose of the study conducted by Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) was to find out more about the pilots’ perception of mental fatigue during short and long-haul flights. In the introduction, it states: “The aim of the present study was to evaluate this personal experience in order to understand pilots’ perception of fatigue in short- and long-haul flights” (Bourgeois-Bougrine et al., 2003, p. 1072). Thus, one may claim that the purpose statement was not only implied in the paper but was also clearly posed at the beginning of the article.

In order to demonstrate the need for the study, researchers provide examples of the dangerous consequences of fatigue, such as causing 3.8% of incidents reported by pilots to the safety system (Bourgeois-Bougrine et al., 2003). Mostly, in their arguments, researchers used prior studies, citing other scholars. Then, scholars argue that despite accidents and other harmful effects of fatigue, it is still underresearched, and there are no commonly used tools to measure it. Therefore, Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) suggest how to measure and deal with fatigue by analyzing questionnaires in their study, which is a logical continuation of their demonstration of research rationale.

In the following study, neither research questions nor hypotheses were explicitly stated. However, Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) take the physiological, psychological, and operational factors as those related to the causes of fatigue, basing their questionnaires focusing on those aspects. This fact made them adopt the hypothesis regarding the impact of physiological, psychological, and operational factors on the level of mental fatigue. In particular, as Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) used demographic information, level of fatigue, its causes, and its manifestations, and applied strategies to cope with it, one may consider these five sections of questionnaires parts of the research question. Thus, one may assume that Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) had hypotheses regarding demographic information, such as age, sex, etc., being tied to pilots’ opinions concerning their level of mental fatigue.

Methodology

All the pilots might be considered as a population for the study, but scholars do not specify how the four analyzed airlines were chosen for the following research. However, Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) mention in the results section that they have sent 3,436 questionnaires to pilots from 4 airlines (without stating the names of companies). Then, they highlighted that only 21.5% (739) of questionnaires were filled out for further analysis. Thus, one may claim that the sample was not chosen by Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003). However, the authors provide small statistics of the received sample, containing information about the proportion of airline representatives, sex, working occupation, and age. Researchers claim that the distribution in terms of pilots’ parameters is “close to the overall numbers for the airlines in 1997”, the year of a previously conducted survey (Bourgeois-Bougrine et al., 2003, p. 1072). Therefore, by driving this argument, researchers justify the representativeness of the sample.

In the research, for comparison of the results for long-haul flights (LHF) and short-haul flights (SHF), the Mann-Whitney U (nonparametric) tests, ANOVA model, and regression analyses were performed. The duty time was taken as an independent variable in the regression models, while the level of fatigue – was the dependent one. Then, scholars draw a conclusion explaining that the low R2 values indicate that the variability in fatigue cannot be explained by duty time. However, Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) do not explain their choice to use regression as an analysis method. Overall, the quantitative research design was used in the discussed paper without clear statements regarding the explanation of the methods used. However, named methods (Mann-Whitney U, ANOVA, regression model) allow other scholars to replicate the study if they wish.

Concerning internal validity, the researchers used the level of 95% of confidence that the causal relationship is reliable, which can be called a common practice in quantitative research. Regarding external validity, as Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) did not explain their choice of airlines to study, there might be a threat of inability to generalize; however, scholars confidently apply the received results to all pilots in the discussion section.

Results and Conclusions

As was discussed previously, quantitative analysis methods, such as regressions, were used in the article without a clear explanation of their appropriateness. Researchers provide some major findings from their analysis: mostly, duty time cannot explain the level of fatigue, mental fatigue in short-haul flights are associated with schedules of 4-5 successive days with 4-5 legs per day (53%), successive early wake-ups (41%), and night flights (18%). Therefore, Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) drew conclusions based on the received results: multi-leg flights, consecutive working days, and early wake-ups in SHF increase the level of fatigue. Moreover, the researchers recommend considering chronobiology in creating aircrew scheduling rules and working time restrictions. They also recommend taking into account the fatigue effects of multi-leg flights and work limitations in SHF. Scholars do not impose limitations on the applicability of their study, generalizing conclusions and recommendations to all pilots and airlines.

Critique

Summing all discussed above, researchers made a credible work for the need for pilots’ fatigue. This is true because in 2003, when Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) suggested an analysis of this mental state through questionnaires and quantitative methods, there were no reliable tools to measure fatigue. Thus, they have shown the academic community how they can study fatigue in other industries and professions. From my perspective, in terms of internal validity, the study made credible results, drawing the line at p-value < 0.05 in the regression model analysis. Moreover, this notion of a 95% confidence level allows other scholars to replicate the study having the same database. What concerns external validity, it is not justified in the paper, so there were no limitations imposed on the study generalization about the pilots from other airline companies. Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) have concluded, claiming that multi-leg flights, consecutive working days, and early wake-ups in SHF increase the level of fatigue. This is a statement based on the data analysis because, in the results section, they provide the proportion in which mentioned reasons lead to fatigue.

Major weaknesses are the lack of explanation regarding the choice of airlines and the absence of limitations imposed on the extent to which one may generalize the established results. Consequently, the study’s main strengths include the explanation of how the questionnaire was created and coded, the diverse characteristics of pilots in the sample (representative), the notion of used methods, and concise analysis-based recommendations. Overall, the study made by Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. (2003) is highly credible because of its main strengths: the data-driven results and reliable conclusion, allowing other scholars to build their future studies based on its article.

Reference

Bourgeois-Bougrine, S., Carbon, P., Gounelle, C., Mollard, R., & Coblentz, A. (2003). Perceived fatigue for short-and long-haul flights: A survey of 739 airline pilots. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 74(10), 1072-1077.

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Perceived Fatigue for Short- and Long-Haul Flights

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