The Data Presentation Method - Case Study Example

This is Chapter 3 with questionnaire design. The main file with both questionnaire design and result analysis is uploaded through the drafts/reference section. Thanks! CHAPTER 3 - MATERIALS AND METHODS 3. Materials and Methods 3.1 Introduction to Research Methodology Human beings are always seeking to expand horizon of his knowledge for the betterment of life and for this reason, humans often research, investigate, and develop new facts and theories . Research in general according to is an important way of learning more about a particular subject. Howard and Sharp (1983) as cited in research is defined as seeking knowledge through methodical process, controlled and carried out systematically. defined it as a way to find out new things in an organised manner and its purpose is usually to provide evidence, prove or disprove statements, and influence people’s minds about something that needs change. Since knowledge is power, research can generate information and understanding that can enable individuals attain better life or solve problems effectively . However, there are many type of research thus, one seeking particular information must be well aware and select the most relevant type of research. According to “observational” research is appropriate for performance analysis of sport while “experimental” research is more suitable for investigating the effect or condition of particular hypothesised variables of interest.“Action” research on the other hand is for researchers seeking information to improve knowledge of a certain phenomena and provide evidence that can be used by policy makers and other people. However, researchers who want to probe deeply into the case of an individual, group, or organisation should use “Case Study” research, a type of research allowing deep analysis of a particular case and take advantage of quantitative and/or qualitative methods. Quantitative and qualitative are methodologies or techniques in research that shares a common ground and are concerned with reliability and study design, and approaches . However, according to , quantitative research methods closely adhere to scientific method because it has more control and objective compared to qualitative research. For instance, quantitative method often require data suitable for statistical analysis such a numbers while data in qualitative approaches are usually in words and analysed inductively . It has two distinct advantages – statistically reliable and projectable to the population. The primary disadvantage however is that the issues are only measured if they are known prior to the start of the survey (ex. questionnaires containing only known issues and therefore limited). Qualitative research on the other hand allows interaction with respondents providing opportunity for in-depth probing of issues and extraction of details from responses. However, qualitative approach is a poor predictor of the larger population as the validity of its results is only good to a particular individual or group . Selecting the right methodology for a research is not necessarily determined by advantages and disadvantages of research method as mentioned above but appropriateness in answering the research question and solving the research problem. According to , researchers must decide which research method is more appropriate to meet the objectives of the research. For instance, researchers can choose from a variety of quantitative approach such as exploratory, descriptive, and causal or select from exploratory, interpretive, and critical approach offered by qualitative research design. Moreover, since research methods are often referred to ways in which data are collected, it may be necessary to consider the researchers capacity and resources in conducting quantitative studies that include questionnaires, structured or semi-structured interviews, observation, document and artefact analysis, and others. Researchers can also follow different optional means in conducting research such as literature review, secondary data analysis, meta-analysis of existing data, research based on administrative records and documentary evidence, ad hoc interview surveys, case studies, longitudinal studies, and experimental social research. Clearly, it is important to remember that the researcher is free to select the best research method available. 3.2 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Method 3.2.1 Background Research methods often refer to processes and instruments used for data gathering. It has three important processes and these include content analyses, observations, and interviews. The instruments on the other hand include factual questionnaires, inventories, and tests . The process involve in content analyses are not limited to written documents but include audio recordings, still photographs, motion-picture files, video recordings, and others. Analysis of content on the other hand is often guided by set of questions the research hopes to answer. Content analysis is commonly focused on a single entity but it can assume a comparative form where analysis is taken to find similarities and differences among two or more entities . The typical procedure in content analysis includes six steps as enumerated below. a. Set of Questions –these are questions that the analysis is supposed to answer b. Identification of likely sources of answers - these are sources like people, government census reports, books with statistical summaries, academic journals, the Internet, and others. c. Keywords and phrases - these are generated to guide researcher in searching publications and exploring sources. d. Recorded information – these are taken from interviews, handwritten notes, and others. Observations on the other hand include watching or listening to events then recording what occurred. It can be either direct or mediated such as those observed during interviews where the researcher immediate sees and hears the reaction of the participants. In contrast, mediated observations are those heard and sees from a reproduction of the earlier event such as audio and video tape . In interviews, the research is often orally asking questions for participants to answer orally. Face-to-face and one-to-one where the researcher can speak to a participant at a time is very common. However, in today’s modern technology, interviews can be in written form or questionnaires that can be sent via Internet. Respondents interviewed using this type of technology often respond through the same medium . The typical approach in an interview as recommended by Thomas (2003) is illustrated below: a. Loose-question approach – this interview strategy attempts to elicit participants’ interpretation of a general query. The researcher typically cast open-ended questions in a manner that allows participants unrestricted freedom to tell their interpretation or understanding of the word, statement, or phrase. Ex. What do the words “sustainability” and “fire safety” means to you? b. Tight-question approach – in contrast to “loose”, this strategy attempt to discover participants’ preferences by presenting limited number of options. Researcher using this strategy often formulates a set of questions expecting one from few pre-defined answers such as “Yes” or “No”, “Like” or “Dislike”, and others. Ex. What do you prefer? PBD or Prescriptive? c. Converging-question approach – this strategy incorporate the advantages of loose and tight questioning. Researcher using this strategy at first asks broad and open-ended questions to find out the participant’s level of understanding about the topic. When the participant responded, the researcher will then ask one or more sharply pointed questions. Ex. What do you think of fire engineering? Is it better than traditional in terms of fire safety? Did you actually experience the impact of PBD in sustainable buildings? d. Response-guided approach – in this strategy, the researcher initially asked a prepared question then makes follow-up queries that are logical extensions of the answer provided by the participant in the first question. The purpose is to get the most detail possible from participants of the issues associated with the first question. Ex. Interviewer: Are you aware of the conflict between fire safety and sustainability concept? Participant: Yes I am. Interviewer: What specific conflict are you aware about? 3.2.2 Rationale for Selecting Qualitative Interview and Questionnaire Methods Qualitative research interview can be used to answer different types of research questions thus it is one of the most flexible methods available for this study. According to , qualitative interview can address focused questions about aspects of organisational life or specific decision processes. It can examine broader issues and ideally suited for topics in which various levels of meaning need to be explored. More importantly, it is a familiar method of research that most participants will likely accept. One of the most popular data collection instrument, questionnaire consists of both closed and open-ended questions and therefore will yield both quantitative and qualitative data. Questionnaire can take advantage of modern technologies such as the Internet and other computer-mediated communication. For instance, it can significantly reduce research cost and time spent due to geographical and temporal boundaries. Aside from the potential to gather large amount of data in relatively short time, online questionnaires do not incur the cost associated with traditional research such as paper, printing, and postage. More importantly, study shows that online questionnaires are getting more responses than paper-based questionnaires . According to , traditional or online, questionnaires are flexible as it can customised to meet the objectives of almost all type of research. It can designed to gather information from different respondents, various situations, and different purposes. It can be rigidly structure or loose, short or long, simple or complex, branched or straightforward. More importantly, it can administered face-to-face or over other medium such telephone, mail, and computer networks. Since questionnaires are often with fixed answer forms, tabulation and coding is easy and can be done in a short time at lower costs. 3.2.3 Data Collection Method The aim of qualitative interview is to explore individual own perceptions and meanings thus imposing researchers own structures and assumption should be avoided. For this reason, researcher using this method should be open and flexible and should naturally allow ideas from participants to emerge. Qualitative interviews can take place in a face-to-face setting but in some circumstances, it can be over the phone or through the Internet. However, face-to-face interviews has the advantage of capturing non-verbal cues coming from participants while interviews through other medium can lead to confusion particularly in terms of participant’s pauses during the interview . Researchers using qualitative interview often seek to capture participants’ perspective thus interview questions are often designed to acquire participants experiences and understandings effectively. Moreover, since the aim is to get specific answer to questions asked, interview questions in this study is generally “tight, close-ended, and constructed in a manner that it would encourage interviewee to be specific about their perspectives and experiences . As suggested by Patton (2002) as cited in , qualitative interview questions design should take into account the following six types of questions. Behavioural/experience Opinions/values Feelings/emotions Knowledge Sensory Background However, it is also recommended to start with an easy to answer background information questions and then continue to more complex or sensitive questions . The structure of a qualitative interview depends on the extent of interviewer’s agenda or specific answers he or she wants to acquire from the participants. A less structured interview does not contain an interview protocol. In contrast, a structured interview, which this study applied earlier, follows a set of procedure and questions aiming to acquire specific answers from interview participants . The most commonly used structured interview format is a questionnaire where questions are carefully worded and asked in a particular order (see Appendix B for format and details). In contrast, semi-structured or less formal interviews do not consider wording of questions critical thus, it is more like a conversation than an interview . In quantitative interview, interviews are often structured and conducted with a number of preset questions. Quantitative interviews include rating scales, ranking questions or questions that can be assess by numbers . A commonly used scaling format is Likert Scale, which was adapted by this study (in conformity with SPSS statistical package requirements- see Section 3.2.4), a method where respondents are presented with statements followed by response choices. For instance, respondents can select between “strongly agree”, “agree” “disagree”, “strongly disagree”, “undecided” responses to indicate their choice . In this study, face-to-face interviews were also used as second method because interaction allows for a naturalistic setting in investigating social phenomenon . However, due to physical unavailability of some respondents, some questionnaires were sent through e-mail. a. The in person interviews took place over a 30 day period b. All interviews are audio-taped c. Most interviews took place in offices d. Interview length between 45-90 minutes e. Informed consent were obtained before the interview f. Confidentiality is assured. The questionnaire construction procedure is shown below: Figure 3.2.3-A Questionnaire construction procedure (McNabb, 2004) Note that before questions are written, the objectives of the research are clearly defined. These include specifying what information must be gathered, the data gathering method that will be used, data analysis method, and selecting the most appropriate question type. 3.2.4 Questionnaire Design 3.2.4.1 Establishing information that must gathered Following recommendation for questionnaire construction procedure in Figure 3.2.3-A, establishment of information that must be gathered for this study was greatly influenced by the research questions that must be answered and the data analysis method in mind. Therefore, the study divided the questionnaire into six sections reflecting the six issues involved in PBD adaption and implementation in Abu Dhabi as enumerated in Table 3.2.4-A below. Table 3.2.4-A The six major issues considered in questionnaire design Issues in PBD adaption and implementation Sections Questions Construction legislations, regulations and law enforcement 1 3-12 Fire Safety Practice in Abu Dhabi 2 13-23 Application of fire safety to sustainable building design 3 24-30 Building Maintenance and Inspections 4 31-37 Performance based fire engineering design 5 38-42 Improving implementation of performance fire engineering design in Abu Dhabi 6 43-51 Questions 3-12 in Section 1 for instance are associated with construction legislations, regulations, and law enforcement thus designed to acquire specific information about these issues as shown in Table 3.2.4-B. Similar approach was applied to Section 2 to 6 Table 3.2.4-B Section 1 questions based on specific issue No. Question 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 3 The approving process within the authorities having jurisdiction AHJ’s AD is generally consistent and there are no contradictions between the requirements of the different approval authorities. 4 The existing building regulation covers all the aspects of building construction without any gab. This includes for instance construction material, fire safety electricity, and mechanical work. 5 There is a need for more legislations, regulations and codes which cover all building aspects especially that regarding responsibilities, penalties and enforcement 6 There is a need for updating the current standard of health and safety in AD 7 The local building codes for AD involve the local conditions for AD environment and do not import international inputs? 8 There is lack in updating building regulations due to lack in building legislation will end with non integrated technical services within the building 9 The weak updating in building regulations cause problems in the building performance regarding both sustainability and fire safety 10 The approval process for the construction projects in Abu Dhabi is clear and easy to use by the developers, owners and consultants/ contractors 11 The concept of centralized authority which approves all aspects of building construction is needed to solve the problems of lack integration, gap, contradiction or duplication in scope and procedures. 12 Centralized authority should be covered with all the needed legislation and regulation and can enforce the law effectively 3.2.4.2 Determination of data gathering method and analysis procedure Since questionnaire design took into account the information requirements and method of data analysis, its associated data gathering method and analysis procedure were based on statistical analysis package (SPSS) requirements. SPSS or Statistical Package for the Social Sciences specifically requires data to be in the form of responses or scores from a number of different respondents and variables such as sex, age, position (covered in Question 1 and 2 and not included in Table 3.2.4-B which is issue specific), and others . Therefore, all questions in the questionnaire as shown in Table 3.2.4-B were given their corresponding responses or score rows and columns where respondents can easily select by checking their preferred level of agreement. The variables in this case are sex or gender and position of participants in their respective organisation. 3.2.4.3 Question Type, Structure, Wordings, and Order The question type and structure as discussed in previous section were based on research questions and issues to be resolved and statistical analysis package requirements thus the wordings and order of questions generally encourage specific answers within the range of the rating scale. For instance, Question 3 of Section 1: “The approving process within the authorities having jurisdiction AHJ’s AD is generally consistent and there are no contradictions between the requirements of the different approval authorities”, specifically encourage participants to express their level of agreement or disagreement with phrases like “is generally consistent” and “no contradictions” rather than asking their perceptions about consistency and contradictions surrounding the approving process. The orders of questions on the other hand are logical and based on preceding question. For instance, Question 3 talks about the consistency and contradictions in approval process and authorities providing them that in essence are greatly influenced by existing building regulation (Question 4) that in turn probably needs additional regulation (Question 5) or updating for specific requirements such as health, local condition, integration, and others which are covered from Question 6 to 12. 3.2.4.4 Questionnaire Pretesting Result Pretesting is a standardised step in questionnaire development and its primary objective is to detect the flaws and make needed changes to questionnaire before actually using it in fieldwork . Questionnaire pretesting in this study was conducted through a pilot study covered in Section 3.4.3 where prototype of questionnaires has been distributed to convenience or limited samples to test the appropriateness and reliability of the questions. See Section 3.4.3 for details and pre-testing result. 3.2.5 Determining Sample Size Sample size in qualitative research is not that important because it does not need statistical analysis similar to quantitative method where quantity of samples affects the accuracy of result. In quantitative studies for instance, increasing sample size reduce sampling error and vice versa . However, the lack of ideal sample size in both qualitative and quantitative method will make it difficult for the researcher to determine the extent of data saturation thus recommended a minimum sample size. For instance, in quantitative method, sample size may be determined by the analysis method –correlation, causal comparative analysis, and experimental analysis- selected for the study. As shown in the table below, minimum sample size varies research design or the analysis method. Research Design Minimum Sample Size QUANTITATIVE DESIGN Correlation analysis 64 participants for one-tailed hypotheses; 82 participants for two-tailed hypotheses Casual-comparative analysis 51 participants per group for one-tailed hypotheses; 64 participants for two-tailed hypotheses Experimental analysis 21 participants per group for one-tailed hypotheses QUALITATIVE DESIGN Case Study 3-5 participants Phenomenological 10 interviews Grounded Theory 20-30 interviews Ethnography 1 cultural group; 30 -50 interviews Table 3.2.4.1 Recommended minimum sample size (Hasse-Biber, 2010) 3.2.6 Participants Selection Criteria Obtaining relevant quantitative and qualitative data is critical to this study thus; the focus is to interview participants from relevant but different stakeholders. The purpose is to acquire different views from various levels. These include senior, middle, low-level managers, and employees. However, the first group of participants were selected from the most relevant organisation that are directly responsible for maintaining quality of building projects such as the AHJ. The second group of participants were selected from the construction side such as main consultants, main contractors, sub-consultants (fire consultants), sub-contractors (fire equipment installers), developers, and individual clients/owners. The third group came from operation and precaution departments of the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence in order to better understand their nature of work and perception regarding PBD. This specific group of participants are shown in Section 3.6, which is mainly differentiated, by their organisation, education background, and work. The selection criteria are as follows: a. With work relevant to application of fire codes or licensing b. Working for at least 5 years in relevant organisation c. Developed and completed projects in Abu Dhabi d. Knowledgeable of PBD 3.2.7 Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis Coding is the process of conceptualising and classifying research data into meaningful and relevant categories. This process enable researcher to do data analysis and interpretation by numbering each category. For instance, Code 1 may be assigned to Males while Code 2 is for Female. These codes may be included in the questionnaire or developed after data have been collected from interviews . In qualitative research, coding involves breaking down data form field notes, tapes, documents, and other artefacts. The researcher generally organise the information such as words, phrases, observed behaviours, and recorded events into categories. However, there are a number of ways to develop these categories and some of them include categorising by participants’ perspectives, way of thinking, activity, event, and others. Once categorised, the researcher can proceed with data analysis by looking patterns or relationships . There are three major types of coding – open, axial, and selective. Open coding according to include breaking down data, comparing and categorising of data while axial coding, although follows same procedure, generally look for connections among categories. In contrast, selective coding “select” the core categories, identify and validate their relationship, refine and develop other categories. In view of the above, this study used the Weber coding protocol and Content Analysis coding scheme as enumerated below : Protocol: 1. Define coding categories 2. Test coding on a sample 3. Assess the accuracy and reliability of the coding sample 4. Revise coding rules as necessary 5. Re-do step 3 until sufficient reliability is achieved. 6. Code all text 7. Assess the achieved reliability or accuracy Coding Scheme: 1. Sorting of codes into categories based how different codes are related and linked. 2. Organise text into fewer content categories. 3. Develop additional codes 4. Revise and refined coding scheme as necessary Following recommended best practices from , this study embarked on open coding data analysis and the following steps were taken. a- Transcribing In this stage, the researcher converts the verbal data from recorded interview to word for word transcription. b- Segmenting In this stage, the researcher divides the transcribed data into meaningful components. The purpose is to remove irrelevant segments and make decisions on the relevant segments. c- Coding In this stage, the researcher assigned categories to the remaining segments and apply the coding schemes and protocols developed earlier. These include identification of all phrases, assertions, and choices used and selected by the participants. 3.3 Case Study Research Method 3.3.1 Background As mentioned earlier, case study research along with literature review, meta-analysis, and others are optional means and therefore not necessarily inferior to other major research methodology. According to , the degree of choice to some extent is constrained by the focus of the topic and the volume of data necessary to support the topic. For instance, social surveys and the questionnaire method may be inappropriate in some circumstances particularly when data required to effectively study the topic is small. Similarly, observational study of a small group of people cannot be use for representative studies but it is perfectly valid and reliable in presenting the ideas of a particular group of people. Evidently, there are trade-offs and compromises when selecting a research methodology and in this study, the Case Study Method of Research is seen as the more appropriate. In his article “Real World Research”, described a case study as one method of research that investigate an individual, a group, family, organisation, community, institution, and others to answer specific research questions by providing evidence. It allows researchers to investigate topics difficult for other methods to study and more appropriate when the research is addressing either a descriptive or explanatory question. Moreover, case study research method help the researchers make direct observation; collect data in natural setting, test results and other statistics maintained by government agencies. For instance, it can find out which safety regulation is more effective or which organisation is doing their job well . The case study method according to is widely used across the social sciences because many considered it a rigorous research strategy in its own right. This is because case study research is a detailed investigation, it illuminate the theoretical issues in question, and suited for research requiring detailed understanding of social or organisation process. 3.3.2 Rationale for Selecting this Methodology The main rationale for selecting the case study method is the need for a research method that can provide the most relevant information in the shortest possible time. Contrary to other methods, the case study method does not require surveys, interviews, observations, ethical research permission, human participants, and costly travel. It can be done with minimal resources and completed in just a matter of weeks. Another justification for selecting the case study method is flexibility and convenience in data collection as it only requires documents that may be analysed using different approaches. 3.3.3 Case Study Selection Criteria Following recommended practices in case study method, the study collected several case study materials from only sources such as government, technical organisation, and others websites including available online journals and books. Retrieval of study materials is based on the following criteria: The materials should authored by a credible government agency or credible technical organisation It should contain relevant and up-to-date information about sustainable fire engineering-based initiatives and implementation in that particular country. Retrieved documents were again examined and selected based on the following criteria: It should contain enough information to enable comparison It should contain factual information about sustainable buildings fire safety such as strategy, scope, technical details, application, and resources used. It should contain information on performance measures and statistics. The selection criteria created by this study was guided by recommended practices and precautions to avoid bias and inconsistencies. For instance, to avoid bias, the study bear in mind that cases should be selected based on their value rather than outcome . Cases must be selected not because they have similarities with existing theories but for their value and consistency in answering the research questions mentioned earlier . 3.3.4 Case Study Data Collection Method There are not much published documents specifying how the case study method should be implemented but literature in research methods often mention five distinct stages –design, pilot study, data collection, data analysis, and report writing. This study design according to is actually formulation of research questions appropriate for the study. The pilot study on the other hand is creating a set of guidelines or study protocol such a list describing the procedures to be use in the study, data gathering instruments, methods of accessing records and other information, and other activities associated with research. Like other research method, data collection in case study method make use of data sources that is rich in information about the topic such as documents containing statistical data, policy and procedures, strategies and techniques, and other information that can help the researcher better understand the phenomenon. Since the purpose of case study is expanding knowledge of a particular phenomena, data can be quantitative or qualitative . According to , researchers using the case study method should use multiple sources of data which in this case are different documents from USA, UK, Australia, and UAE. Guided by the search and selection criteria developed earlier and collected a number of case study documents for different sources. First, the study embarked on online search of case study materials and other information relevant to sustainable buildings, fire engineering safety design, prescriptive design, performance-based design, and actual implementation of such design. Second, the study retrieved all case studies and supporting documents matching the selection criteria. Third, the study reviewed and organised documents retrieved for further analysis. 3.3.5 Case Study Data Analysis Method In analysing data gathered using the above data collection method, the case study method commonly uses pattern matching, an analytical tool where patterns are compared with one or more predicted patterns. For instance, if theoretical effectiveness of performance-based design is mostly attributed to cost reduction and innovation then it should match the pattern in actual situation otherwise such attributed should be questioned . According to , the logic behind pattern matching is establishing a relationship between events in a manner that they can called a unified system. For instance, patterns emerging from single cases are compared to each other and to patterns described in the existing literature. In other words, pattern matching check whether a certain outcome is absent in the observed pattern and explore whether or not the pattern of a case matches the pattern predicted by a theory . Document analysis enables this study to process information directly relevant to the case study topic. According to , data that are obtained from the industry documents (manufacturing industry for instance) such collective bargaining agreements, salary figures, legal journals, and state regulations concerning the industry often yield more credible and reliable information. For this reason, the study during the data collection stage created a set of criteria to ensure that all documents contain relevant and valuable information. In this case, these are prescriptive and performance-based design application, legislation and regulations affecting design, review and approval procedures, assessment conducted in terms of fire safety, and reviews conducted by independent parties (if available). Comparative analysis started with the creation of a table containing characteristics of each sustainable building design practices. Pattern matching technique is applied by highlighting all similarities in green and dissimilarities in red. In this manner, similar practices and variations can be easily identified and examined straightforwardly. 3.3.6 Data Presentation Method The data presentation method follows suggestion mentioned earlier for both case study methods and these include tables, graphs, and illustration. However, in order to clearly identify which sustainable building design practices are more appropriate, a graph showing frequency of application is used as shown in the following sections. REFERENCES Andrew, P. & MacEvoy, C. (2011). Research Methods and Design in Sport Manaement, Human Kinetics.USA Cassell, C. & Symon, G. (2004). Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research, SAGE Publications Catherine, C. & Symon, G. 2004. 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