Implementing Observational Research Methods to Study Team Performance in Construction Management
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136, Issue 1
Abstract
The evolution of research in the area of construction engineering and management has moved toward the use of quantitative metrics and research methods for identifying and evaluating the impact of events or procedures on the construction process. While quantitative research methods can be very important for answering certain research questions, there are important reasons for adopting qualitative or mixed methodology studies to gain a better understanding of complex phenomena. This paper explores the use of observational studies and their potential use within the field of construction research. Observational studies can provide answers to “what” phenomena occurred, particularly when people are involved in a process, along with gaining insights into “why” the phenomena occurred. This paper discusses two types of observational studies, structured and unstructured, and provides a procedure for their implementation within construction research. To clearly demonstrate the methodology, a case study focused on the investigation of two different versions of an educational simulation application, the virtual construction simulator (VCS), is used to illustrate the benefits and challenges of implementing mixed methodology observational studies. The case study involved the video recording and analysis of interactions between student team members when using the VCS application for a construction sequencing task. The video recordings were analyzed, and important insights were identified, both qualitative and quantitative. Through content analysis, it was determined that the improvements made in a new version of the VCS application were beneficial, and the detailed observational studies identified insights into why the revisions in the application yielded improved results. This case study details the steps and considerations involved in planning an observational study, as well as the benefits and challenges that researchers may encounter when using observational research methodologies.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the student participants for agreeing to be observed and recorded during the study presented in this paper. We also thank the National Science Foundation for their support of this research through Grant Nos. NSF0348457 and NSF0342861. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations are those of the writers and do not reflect those of the National Science Foundation or the project participants.
References
Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., and Pitts, S. C., and (2003). “Multiple regression analysis.” Comprehensive handbook of psychology. Volume 2. Research methods in psychology, J. A. Schinka and W. F. Velicer, eds., Wiley, New York.
Atkinson, P., Coffey, A., and Delamont, S. (1999). “Ethnography: Post, past, and present.” J. Contemp. Ethnogr., 28, 460–471.
Bauer, M. W., Atkinson, P., and Gaskell, G. (2000). Handbook of ethnography, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Bernardin, H. J., and Buckley, M. R. (1981). “Strategies in rater training.” Acad. Manage. Rev., 6, 205–212.
Biello, D. (2006). “Fact or fiction?: Archimedes coined the term “Eureka!” in the bath.” Scientific American, ⟨http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-archimede⟩ (July 24, 2008).
Bliese, P. D. (2000). “Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: Implications for data aggregation and analysis.” Multilevel theory, research, and methods in organizations, K. J. Klein and S. W. J. Kozlowski, eds., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 439–381.
Buchholz, B., Paquet, V., Wellman, H., and Forde, M. (2003). “Quantification of ergonomic hazards for ironworkers performing concrete reinforcement tasks during heavy highway construction.” Am. Ind. Hyg. Assoc. J., 64(2), 243–250.
Campbell, D. T., and Stanley, J. C. (1963). “Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research on teaching.” Handbook of research on teaching, N. L. Gauge, ed., Rand McNally, Chicago.
Conduitt, J. (2006). “Conduitt’s account of Newton’s life at Cambridge.” Newtonproject, King’s College, Cambridge, Keynes Ms. 130.4, ⟨http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/texts/viewtext.php?id=THEM00167&mode=normalized⟩ (Apr. 27, 2008).
Cook, T. D., and Campbell, D. T. (1979). Quasi-experimentation: Design and analysis for field settings, Rand McNally, Chicago.
Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, 1st Ed., John Murray, London, ⟨http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=1⟩ (May 27, 2008).
Denzin, N. K., and Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Dov, N. (2005). “Developing an observation model in the conventional and simulation lab lessons: Observations on learning and instruction processes.” Proc., 2005 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conf., IEEE, Indianapolis.
Gill, J., and Johnson, P. (2002). Research methods for managers, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Gillbreth, F. B. (1912). Primer of scientific management, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Gopinath, R., and Messner, J. I. (2004). “Applying immersive virtual facility prototyping in AECO.” Proc., CONVR 2004: 4th Conf. of Construction Applications of Virtual Reality, Dept. of Information Sciences and Technologies of ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal, 79–86.
Gyorke, A. (2006). Studiocode white paper: A video coding and analysis tool with applications for education and research, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, Pa., ⟨http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/whitepapers/Studiocode_Whitepaper.pdf⟩ (Aug. 5, 2008).
Hammersly, M., and Gromm, R. (1997). “Bias in social research.” Sociological Research Online, 2(1), ⟨http://www.socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/2/1/2.html⟩ (July 29, 2008).
Holsti, O. R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.
James, L. R., Demaree, R. G., and Wolf, G. (1984). “Estimating within-group interater reliability with and without response bias.” J. Appl. Psychol., 69, 85–98.
Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Liston, K., Fischer, M., and Winograd, T. (2001). “Focused sharing of information for multi-disciplinary decision making by project teams.” J. Inf. Tech. Constr., 6, 69–82.
Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T. S., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., and Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2000). “The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance.” J. Appl. Psychol., 85, 273–283.
Messick, S. (1995). “Validity of psychological assessment.” Am. Psychol., 50, 741–749.
Mintzberg, H. (1973). The nature of managerial work, Harper & Row, New York.
Mumford, M. D. (2006). Pathways to outstanding leadership: A comparative analysis of charismatic, ideological and pragmatic leaders, Erlbaum, Mahwah, N.J.
Mumford, M. D., and Van Doorn, J. R. (2001). “The leadership of pragmatism: Reconsidering Franklin in the age of charisma.” Leadership Q., 12, 279–309.
Plano Clark, V. L., Creswell, J. W., O’Neil Green, D., and Shope, R. J. (2008). “Mixing quantitative and qualitative approaches.” Handbook of emergent methods, S. N. Hesse-Biber and P. Leavy, eds., Guilford, New York.
Raudenbush, S. W., and Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods, Sage, New York.
Ruscio, A. M., and Amabile, T. M. (1999). “Effects of instructional style on problem-solving creativity.” Creat. Res. J., 12, 251–266.
Ruscio, J., Whitney, D. M., and Amabile, T. M. (1998). “Looking inside the fishbowl of creativity: Verbal and behavioral predictors of creative performance.” Creat. Res. J., 11, 243–263.
Scott, M., and DeSanctis, P. G. (1992). “Microlevel structuration in computer-supported group decision making.” Hum. Commun. Res., 19(1), 5–49.
Strange, J. M., and Mumford, M. D. (2005). “The origins of vision: Effects of reflection, models and analysis.” Leadership Q., 16, 121–148.
Tabachnick, B. G., and Fidell, L. (2001). Using multivariate statistics, Allyn and Bacon, Needham Heights, Mass.
Taylor, F. W. (1903). Shop management, Harper & Row, New York.
Tukey, J. W. (1977). Exploratory data analysis, Addison-Wesly, Reading, Mass.
Wang, L., Messner, J. I., and Leicht, R. (2007). “Assessment of 4D modeling for schedule visualization in construction engineering education.” Proc., 24th Int. Conf. on Information Technology in Construction, Univ. of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
Wax, R. H. (1971). Doing field work: Warnings and advice, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago.
Woehr, D. (1994). “Understanding frame-of-reference training: The impact of training on the recall of performance information.” J. Appl. Psychol., 79, 525–534.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136 • Issue 1 • January 2010
Pages: 76 - 86
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 8, 2008
Accepted: Apr 2, 2009
Published online: Apr 30, 2009
Published in print: Jan 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.