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Qualitative research in engineering management Conference Paper · October 2012
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Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2012 International Annual Conference R. Jaradat and R. Landaeta eds.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT Zikai Zhou Department of Engineering Management & System Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract A variety of methods or combinations thereof are being used in research within the engineering management discipline including case study, grounded theory, quantitative questionnaire, qualitative survey, etc. Most of them can be generalized into different categories of research methodologies, which are confirmatory research, synthetic research, qualitative research, quantitative research or mixed methods. In this paper, we will discuss the paradigms, cannons and process of qualitative research. Different examples in engineering management will be introduced to show the implementation of qualitative research and the importance of the qualitative research in engineering management will also be discussed. Key Words: Qualitative Research, Engineering Management, Research Methods Introduction Cousin (2009) defines methods as best understood from the tools and procedures we use for our inquiries and methodology as the framework within which they sit. The body of research in engineering management can be divided into certain categories such as project management, cost management, risk management, quality management, operations research, logistic and supply chain, etc. The research methods used in engineering management include confirmatory research, experimental research, non-experimental research, qualitative research, quantitative research, mixed methods, etc. Qualitative research methods are associated with face-to-face contact with people in the research setting, together with verbal data and observation (Eldablal, Irani, Paul & Love, 2002). Clough and Nutbrown (2002) indicate that an engagement with methodology allows the researcher to locate their research design within a particular “tradition of inquiry.” Qualitative research is at a different end of a continuum when compared to quantitative research. When a researcher is conducting qualitative research, the process is often revised and refined throughout (Savenye & Robinson, 2005). The choice of qualitative methods falls roughly into the categories of observations, interviews, and document and artifact analyses. In this paper, we will introduce the general criterions, paradigms and the process of the qualitative research. The goal is to find
out the general structure and show the implementation of qualitative research in engineering management. Different examples will be introduced and the importance of the qualitative research in engineering management will also be discussed. Definition of Qualitative Research Qualitative research is concerned with developing explanations of social phenomena. It aims to help us to understand the world in which we live and why things are the way they are. It is concerned with finding the answers to questions which begin with: Why? How? In what way? (Hancock, 1998) It is interested in distilling meaning and understanding phenomena but not concerned with the measurement and quantification of the phenomenon but acquiring an understanding the natural setting of the phenomenon through observation (Irani, Ezingeard, Grieve & Race, 1999). Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). It usually evokes theoretical questions from the research situation and allows meaning to develop from observation (Magnan, 1997). The scale of qualitative studies usually focuses on a few cases with many variables (Hignett, 2005). Decrop (1999) states that qualitative research allows no strong predictions and frightens lazy people because valuable material can be huge. It seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it involves (Mack & MacQueen, 2005). Savenye and Robinson (2005) indicate that qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting, without intentionally manipulating the environment which involves highly detailed rich descriptions of human behaviors and opinions. Moreover, qualitative research may not be easy to be generalized to other settings. Fielden (2008) connotes that qualitative research should be well grounded epistemologically and demonstrate epistemological consistency from conceptualization to conclusions. The author should demonstrate a thorough understanding of his or her approach and achieve a balance between “self-indulgent” reflexivity and explanatory reflexivity. This positioning should be clear from the outset of the paper to enable the reader to interpret the data. Perl and Noldon (2000) found that qualitative research values individual voices and is often used to illuminate voices that have previously
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been marginalized. It aims to understand individual cases, acknowledges authors’ biases as part of their research and usually starts with information and try to make sense of it through an inductive approach. The Paradigm for Qualitative research Although researchers espouse different views of how methods may be categorized and conceptualized in Qualitative Research, there are still some common paradigms. Exhibit 1 lists the paradigms for Qualitative Research based on the work of Hancock (1998), Decrop (1999), Kenneth (2000), Hignett (2005). Exhibit 1. Paradigms for Qualitative Research Paradigms Subjectivism
Holism Phenomenology Description
Interpretivism
Naturalism
Inductive reasoning
Understanding
Purposive sampling
Inquiry from the inside Creativity
Accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law Natural systems and their properties viewed as wholes, not as collections of parts. Refer to subjective experiences or their study Objectively analyzing and describing how language is spoken Focus is on understanding the meanings that social actions have for the people being studied Observable events are fully explainable by natural causes without reference to the supernatural A process where one starts from a specific experience and draws inferences from it An abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object A form of sampling in which the selection of the sample is based on the judgment of the researcher as to which subjects best fit the criteria of the study Augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem from the researchers themselves Refers to the phenomenon whereby person creates
something new that has some kind of value. Observing or finding something unknown Concerning the nature of everyday human social interactions and agency on a small scale: face to face
Discovery
Micro-sociology
Methodologies for Qualitative Research In the past 20 years, a lot of researches has been conducted under the paradigm of qualitative research and different methods were used by different researchers. Some commonly used methodologies in qualitative research have been developed and established. Exhibit 2 lists the methodologies for qualitative research from the work of Robinson and Driscoll (1993), Hancock (1998), Perl and Noldon (2000), Savenye and Robinson (2005), Mack and MacQueen (2005), Hignett (2005), Case and Light (2011). The discussion of each methodology is out of the scope of this paper, for more information and details, please review the papers from the authors. Exhibit 2. Methodologies for Qualitative Research Methodologies Case Study
Transcendental Realism
Grounded Theory
Heuristics
Ethnography
Hermeneutics
Holistic Ethnography
Life History
Cognitive Anthropology Ethnography of Communication
Symbolic Interactionism Participant Observation
Ethnomethodology
Nonparticipant Observation
Action Research
In-depth Interviews
Participatory Action Research
Focus Groups
Policy research
Ecological Psychology
Phenomenology
Orientational
Discourse Analysis
Critical Inquiry
Narrative Analysis
Semiotic Approach
Content analysis
Document and Artifact Analysis
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Data Collection for Qualitative Research There are various ways of data collection such as participant observation, non-participant observation, field notes, reflexive journals, structured interview, semi-structured interview, unstructured interview, analysis of documents and materials, etc (Marshall & Rossman, 1999). In general, there are three basic types of them which are interviews, observations and documents (Hignett, 2005). Exhibit 3 gives a brief explanation of different data sources for qualitative research. Exhibit 3. Different Data Sources for Qualitative Research Different Data Sources Interviews
Observations Documents
To get the data by asking questions or talking to the interviewees To get the data from the outside world through senses, or using scientific instruments To get the data by reading the papers, book, etc.
Sampling Strategy for Qualitative Research Due to the data types of qualitative research, it usually takes more time to manage and analyze the data sets. Therefore, to have an appropriate sampling strategy is very important in qualitative research. There are variety of them developed by previous researchers such as convenience sampling, snowball or chain sampling, homogenous sampling, criterion sampling, etc. Convenience sampling is one of the sampling strategies which emphasizes on saving time, money, effort and the samples usually yield poorest rational, lowest credibility and information-poor cases. Snowball or chain sampling identifies cases of interest from people who know people, who know what cases are information-rich. Homogenous sampling requires focus, less variation and simplified analysis. Criterion sampling picks cases that need some criterion. In this paper, we just describe some of them. For more details of each sampling strategy, please review papers of Patton (1990) and Hignett (2005). Here we need to notice that when we choose our sampling strategies for our qualitative research, the combination of a few of them may work better. Manage and Analyze the Qualitative Research Data Data analysis during the research is to summarize the mass of data collected and present the results in a way that communicates the most important features. In quantitative research, data are words or pictures, which can have more than one meaning. Most of them may
not as measurable as quantitative data by using statistics technologies, but we are more interested in using the data to describe a phenomenon, to articulate what they mean and to understand them. (Hancock, 1998 & Decrop, 1999) There are many ways of data management and analysis, however most of them typically share some common steps or processes. Those steps are shown in Exhibit 4 and they are data coding, data reduction, data display and drawing conclusion, respectively. Data coding means that labeling or coding every item of information in order to summarize and break them down into different themes or categories and data reduction is to reduce unimportant or insignificant data in order to refine the questions or match the designed framework. During the step of data display, we usually display the data by using charts, graphs, diagrams, tables, matrices, or any other devices in order to help find the regularities and causality of the data sets, and the last step is to draw the conclusion or describe the phenomenon based on regularities, patterns and causal flows of the displayed data. Exhibit 4. Steps of Qualitative Research Data Analysis
Triangulation Analysis in Qualitative Research Qualitative research is often criticized by the extent of its credibility, transferability, reliability, and objectivity because of the highly involvement of the researcher and the way of data collection, management and analysis. Triangulation which means verifying qualitative information by looking at the same phenomenon from different angles can better handle these skepticisms. Denzin (1978) developed four types of triangulation for qualitative research. They are data triangulation, method triangulation, theoretical triangulation and investigator triangulation. Exhibit 5 is a brief summary for these four types of triangulation.
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Exhibit 5. Summary of Four Types of Triangulation Triangulation
Interpretation
Data Triangulation
Uses avariety data sources in a study
Method Triangulation
Uses multiple methods to study a single problem
Theoretical Triangulation
Uses multiple perspectives to interpret a single set of data
Investigator Triangulation
Uses several different researchers to evaluate the same body of data
A Big Picture The following exhibit is a big picture for the process of qualitative research. Identify the Research Questions
Choose the Research Methodology
Collect the Data
Select the Sampling Strategies
Manage and Analyze the Data Sets
Conduct the Triangulation Analysis
Address the Discussion and Conclusion
Strength and Weakness of Qualitative Research The main strength of the qualitative research is the deeper involvement of the researchers and the participants. Perl and Noldon (2000) state that the written analysis by the qualitative researcher is already considered as an actual component of the research itself. The process of analyzing and writing about a topic is an inherent part of the methodology. The researcher’s own stance is interwoven into how he or she reports what has been learned as a result of conducting the study. The degree to which the researcher reveals his or her own standpoint in relation to a topic depends on his or her theoretical orientation. The more constructivist the approach, the more attention will be paid to the relationship between the
researcher, the topic, and the participants in the study. Hignett (2005) points out that the strength of qualitative research is to differentiate between methodologies used for testing relationships which mostly provides a description of the situation or language characteristics have been placed in the observation-only tier. The main weakness of the qualitative research is time consuming for the data collection, data management and data analysis. Perl and Noldon (2000) indicate that a very large number of interviews need to be conducted before one can claim to make any sort of generalization about a given population. Another weakness of qualitative methods is their vulnerability to sources of both external and internal validity (Gall, Gall & Borg, 1996). We should notice that most qualitative research is not easy to be replicated. Although it is possible to study long-term trends utilizing a series of interviews over a long period of time, it would be much more difficult to sustain the continuity and consistency of a qualitative study’s interview protocol and interpretive methods (Perl & Noldon, 2000). The Implementation of Qualitative Research in Engineering Management Nowadays, much of the research in engineering management has been done by using a quantitative research philosophy and methodologies, such as research in project management, cost management, supply chain management, etc., which are more about theory testing and methods of statistics being used in the research. However, as stated above, qualitative research is more about the process of learning and discovery which has its own research strength, such as in the way data are collected and analyzed. Next, we will introduce an example of qualitative research in engineering management. Exemplar Paper. Garcia-Crespo, A. (2010). A Qualitative Study of Hard Decision Making in Managing Global Software Development Teams. Information Systems Management, 27(3), 247-252. This paper performed research on hard decisions in the context of the management of global software development (GSD) teams through a qualitative research methodology. In the paper, the author first introduced the status quo of the software development industry and put forward the concept of a global software development team. After analyzing the strength and weakness of the GSD team, the author identified the research question: What are the hard decisions in a GSD team compared to a traditional team? What are the differences? After conducting the first step – identifying the research question, the author choose the methodology
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for the research: the Delphi method – one of the methodologies in qualitative research. Next, the author defined the sampling strategy as purposive sampling which had 25 panelists from organizations varying in size from 50 to 6,000 employees worldwide, all having experience in GSD and working as IT project managers in IT related companies. Following the data collection, the author managed the data by coding and reduction and further categorized the final significant data into three tables: Table 1: Hard decisions identified by Delphi participants, Table 2: Hard decisions and differential factors identified by Delphi participants and Table 3: Hard decisions and differential factors in GSD ranking. According to the data displayed in these 3 tables, the first three ranked hard decisions are partnersupplier election, work packages assignation and choose coordination mechanisms and tools. Based on these results, the author discussed three potential gaps which might cause the problems in decision making of GSD teams. They are the absence of references to requirements engineering, the relevance of trust and the cultural aspect. At the end of the paper, recommendations of the measurements to close these gaps were proposed. This is a typical qualitative research in engineering management paper, which is about the decision making problems of global software development (GSD) team. Because the research goal is to find the rank of hard decisions in GSD first, the paper adopted the inductive reasoning to conduct the research and further addressed the discussion, conclusion and recommendations based on the results. The only missing part was the triangulation analysis which might cause some questions about the credibility, transferability, reliability and objectivity of the discussion and conclusion. Other Implementations in Engineering Management The example above is a team study research, which is part of the research in project management. In project management research, qualitative research methodologies usually can be used to discover and find out the reasons or the factors which affect the success or failure of the project or team and can also be used to explore the internal and external relationships of the human aspect for the project or team. The paper “IT Governance and Project Management: A Qualitative Study.” by Sharma, Stone and Ekinci (2009) provides another good example. For research in risk management, qualitative research methodologies are also widely used, which can help identify risk events, assess the risk events, analyze the risks, etc. The paper “The Role of Qualitative Risk Assessment in Environmental
Management: A Kazakhstani Case Study.” by Kajenthira, Holmes and McDonnell (2012) and “Qualitative Analysis of Project Risk.” by Kremljak (2011) are good examples. In cost management, qualitative research methodologies can be used to identify cost influencing factors, to study the perspectives of the stakeholders for the cost influence, etc. The paper “A Qualitative Study of GPs' and PCO Stakeholders' Views on the Importance and Influence of Cost on Prescribing” by Prosser and Walley (2005) and “A Qualitative Approach of Identifying Major Cost Influencing Factors in Palm Oil Mills and the Relations towards Production Cost of Crude Palm Oil” by Man and Baharum (2011) offer good examples for the implementation of qualitative research in cost management. For research in supply chain management, qualitative research approaches can be used to examine the vulnerability in supply chains or to develop the models to support the supply chain management. Examples from Svensson (2004) “Key Areas, Causes and Contingency Planning of Corporate Vulnerability in Supply Chains: A Qualitative Approach” and Wolf (2011) “Sustainable Supply Chain Management Integration: A Qualitative Analysis of the German Manufacturing Industry” provide good illustrations. Above are some examples of the implementation for qualitative research in engineering management. In general, qualitative research methodologies can be used to identify problems, assess problems and even build the models or theories to solve the problems. It is a research process to discover the way of problem solving and theory building which can be implemented in different aspects of engineering management. The Importance of Qualitative Research in Engineering Management In the realm of engineering management, what kind of research methodologies we plan to apply usually depends on our research questions and topics, such as in the examples introduced above. However, some of the research questions and topics are more about theory testing and deductive reasoning. For those research questions, the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies may work better than monomethod research can yield, which can compensate for their mutual and overlapping weaknesses, serve for the mutual validation of data and findings as well as for the production of a more coherent and complete picture of the investigated domain (Kelle, 2006). For instance, we may imbed a qualitative methodology into quantitative research to help build the hypothesis of the research. Therefore, having a view of how qualitative research can be implemented in engineering management research is crucial for the body of knowledge.
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Conclusion This paper discusses about the paradigms, cannons and process of the Qualitative research and introduces different examples to illustrate how Qualitative research can be implemented in different research areas of Engineering Management. The goal of the paper is to find out the general structure and show the implementation of Qualitative research in the researches of Engineering Management. At the end of the paper, we emphasize on the importance of the Qualitative research in Engineering Management and propose the potential combination of both Qualitative and Quantitative research which is also known as the Mixed Methods. Because of the scope of the paper, the structure, process and paradigms of the Mixed Methods are not discussed. Further studies need to be done for the implementation of Mixed Methods in Engineering Management. References Case, Jennifer M., and Gregory Light, "Emerging Methodologies in Engineering Education Research," Journal of Engineering Education 100, no. 1 (2011), pp. 186-210. Clough, Peter, and Cathy Nutbrown, A Student's Guide to Methodology, Justifying Enquiry (2002). Cousin, Glynis, Researching Learning in Higher Education: An Introduction to Contemporary Methods and Approaches, New York: Routledge (2009). Decrop, Alain, Abraham Pizam, and Yoel Mansfield, Chapter 16: Qualitative Research Methods for the Study of Tourist Behavior, Haworth Press, Inc., (1999), pp. 335-365. Denzin, Norman K., Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods, New York (1978). Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln, "Handbook of Qualitative Research. Second Edition," Sage Publications, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, California, (2000), pp. 1142 Eldablal, Til, Zahir Irani, Ray J. Paul, Peter J. Paul, and Peter E. D. Love, "Quantitative and Qualitative Decision-Making Methods in Simulation Modelling," Management Decision, vol. 40, (2002), pp. 64. Fielden, Sandra L., "Guidelines for Reviewers," Gender in Management, vol. 23, (2008), pp. 7-10. Gall, Joyce P., Meredith D. Gall, and Walter R. Borg., Educational Research: An Introduction, Sixth Edition, United States of America: Longman (1996). Garcia-Crespo, Angel, Ricardo Colomo-Palacios, Pedro Soto-Acosta, and Marcos Ruano-
Mayoral, "A Qualitative Study of Hard Decision Making in Managing Global Software Development Teams," Information Systems Management, vol. 27, (Summer 2010), pp. 247-252. Hancock, Beverley, “Trent Focus for Research and Development in Primary Health Care: An Introduction to Qualitative Research,” Trent Focus, (1998) Irani, Z., J. N. Ezingeard, R. J. Grieve, and P. Race, "A case study strategy as part of an information systems research methodology: a critique," International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, vol. 12, (1999), pp. 190-198. Kajenthira, Arani, John Holmes, and Rachael McDonnell, "The role of qualitative risk assessment in environmental management: A Kazakhstani case study," Science of the Total Environment, vol. 420, (2012), pp. 24-32. Kelle, Udo, "Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in research practice: purposes and advantages," Qualitative Research in Psychology, vol. 3, (2006), pp. 293-311. Kenneth, F. Hyde, "Recognising deductive processes in qualitative research," Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. 3, (2000), pp. 82-90. Kremljak, Zvonko, "Qualitative Analysis of Project Risk," Annals of DAAAM & Proceedings, (2011), pp. 191-192. Mack, Natasha, and Kathleen M. Macqueen, Qualitative research methods: a data collector's field guide, Family Health International (2005). Magnan, Sally Sieloff, "MLJ reviews," Modern Language Journal, vol. 81, (Summer 1997), pp. 256. Man, Elaine Lau Ying, and Adam Baharum, "A Qualitative Approach of Identifying Major Cost Influencing Factors in Palm Oil Mills and the Relations towards Production Cost of Crude Palm Oil," American Journal of Applied Sciences, vol. 8, (2011), pp. 441-446. Marshall, Catherine, and Gretchen B. Rossman, Designing qualitative research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (1999). Patton, Michael Quinn, Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, Second edition, Sage Publications Inc (1990). Perl, Emily J., and Denise F. Noldon, "Overview of Student Affairs Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative," New Directions for Institutional Research, vol. 2000, (2000), pp. 37.
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Prosser, H., and T. Walley, "A qualitative study of GPs' and PCO stakeholders' views on the importance and influence of cost on prescribing," Social Science & Medicine, vol. 60, (2005), pp. 1335-1346. Robinson, Rhonda S., and Marcy P. Driscoll, "Qualitative Research Methods Workshops: An Introduction, Definitions. Readings on Qualitative Research: An Annotated Bibliography," (1993). Savenye, Wilhelmina C., and Rhonda S. Robinson, "Using qualitative research methods in higher education," Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 16, (2005), pp. 65-95. Sharma, Dev, Merlin Stone, and Yuksel Ekinci, "IT governance and project management: A qualitative study," Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, vol. 16, (2009), pp. 29-50. Hignett, Sue, Qualitative methodology, in Evaluation of Human Work, Third Edition, CRC Press (2005), pp. 113-128. Svensson, Göran, "Key areas, causes and contingency planning of corporate vulnerability in supply chains: A qualitative approach," International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 34, (2004), pp. 728-748. Wolf, Julia, "Sustainable Supply Chain Management Integration: A Qualitative Analysis of the German Manufacturing Industry," Journal Of Business Ethics, vol. 102, (2011), pp. 221235. About the Author Zikai Zhou, is now a Ph.D. Student in department of Engineering Management and System Engineering at Old Dominion University. He revieved his master degree in the same program and continued his Ph.D. study in Spring 2012. Before studying in Old Dominion University, he used to worked in a large construction company in China for 4.5 years and his responsibilities for the job were to manage the project plan, material and cost during the construction process. Now he is working on his Ph.D. program and his research interests are related to the organization analysis, team analysis and research methodologies.
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