Ahadzie, D K; Proverbs, D G and Olomolaiye, P (2006) Development of research instrument for project managers' performance measures in mass house building projects. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 22nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2006, Birmingham, UK.
Abstract
The choice and design of an appropriate research instrument (RI) marks an important milestone in any research programme. Here, the development of an appropriate RI towards project managers' (PMs) performance measures in mass house building projects (MHBPs) is described. The underlying conceptual framework is designed to reflect the various project phases, namely: conceptual, planning, tender, procurement, construction and operational. However, here, the RI is developed for only the construction phase. Adopting positivism, the dependent and independent variables have been operationalised to reflect repetitive management intuition in MHBPs. Given that the RI is to be applied in the context of a developing country, the operational measures have also been developed to reflect the appropriate project conditions prevailing. Subsequently, pilot study was undertaken in Ghana, a sub-Saharan African (SSA) country. The feedback suggests the RI is potentially rigorous for eliciting the relevant information. While the paper focuses on MHBPs, there are useful lessons for application in the wider context, in particular, towards mapping performance measures onto projects of unique characteristics.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | conceptual framework; Ghana; mass house building projects; project managers; research instrument |
| Index terms: | intuition, conceptual framework, construction phase, positivism, mapping, programme, Ghana, independent variable, performance measure, project manager, developing country |
| Subjects: | Geography, development economics, performance measurement, theoretical framing, spatial and geospatial analysis, statistical analysis, philosophical concept, project controls, cognitive psychology, profession, project delivery |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice, Time Control, International Construction, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here