Introduction
In the construction industry, a comparative analysis is important because it allows constrictors and construction companies to analyze and evaluate methods and techniques used in other countries and apply them in a new setting. Maintaining a balance among philosophical, methodological, theoretical and information gathering orientations is necessary for problem-oriented research.
The researcher’s foundation, in theory, provides the orientation for defining a problem that is researchable within the discipline or disciplines involved in the research and with the resources available. International comparative analysis also provides the basis for the formulation of hypotheses and in the selection of the analytical techniques to be used. And it should be obvious that the interpretation of the results depends heavily on the theoretical orientation of the researcher. These statements are true even in integrated, multidisciplinary research as in construction systems research.
Comparative analysis
International comparative analysis plays a significant role in research by providing structure and form to “known” relationships as a basis for developing additivity and efficiency in the management of the knowledge quest. The international comparative analysis provides a sustainable basis that nurtures the progressive and necessary accumulation of knowledge to solve problems and create opportunities (Wu et al 2004). That is, with theoretical grounding we need not begin completely anew with each new problem. Yet often of necessity, conceptual adaptations are drawn from, but complementary with, various theories. These adaptations serve as evolving guides to applied research and may in time contribute to refinements in the theory (Best and Langston 2006).
Benefits of international comparative analysis
Comparative research helps to identify the need for constructing more highways, bridges and streets in addition to the maintenance required for the existing road facilities will result in the increase of employment in the heavy and civil engineering construction sector. The case of UK and German construction shows that increase in employment is expected across the industry. The processes of evolution, development and use of theory are normal and necessary within human reason (Clarke and Herrmann 2004).
A theory provides the “language” and “filing system” for conceptualizing relationships (systematic behaviour) and classifying information (facts and conditions). Facts, without classification, can not be understood and managed. Experience, transmitted through conceptualizations of need, order and causality, guides us in selecting from alternative classifications of fact. These conceptualizations have their roots in theory; they also provide for further development of dynamic or evolutionary theories (Wu et al 2004).
Consistent with the varied occupations in the construction industry education and training vary greatly ranging from basic schooling to graduate and postgraduate qualifications. It is possible to start a career in construction without having any qualifications. Another characteristic of the construction industry is that it needs appropriate physical stamina because of the working conditions and physical efforts required in most of the occupations where one may experience prolonged standing, bending, stooping, and working in cramped quarters (Wolcott 2001).
The construction industry workers are more exposed to the weather conditions because of the nature of most of the jobs that require working outdoors. Because of the type of tools used and work arrangements, e.g., scaffolding, they are prone to accidents injuries and even fatal falls from high places more than the workers of any other industry (Best and Langston 2006).
Possibilities and opportunities for national companies
The case of British and Chinese international companies allows us to say that comparative analysis permits us to conceptualize the interactions within a system. “Following a brief review of the past and present performance of British and Chinese construction firms in the international construction market, this paper will analyse their respective strengths and weaknesses” (Pheng et al 2004, p. 717). The theory of supply and demand serves as an example.
Into these two categories, we group factors affecting the prices of products and prices of production factors. Items that affect prices are income, population, factor prices, production coefficients and others. The first two include demand relationships while the last two are supply oriented. Similarly, plant production is influenced by genetic characteristics of the plant, soil and water conditions, and cultural practices, all containing a multitude of factors grouped according to numerous theories that are nurtured by various disciplinary and multidisciplinary configurations. The research process and analysis of research results flow from these theoretical formulations.
Research performance can be influenced greatly by the quality and applicability of the theory employed. The applicability theorem is often responsible for economists being called subjective. For example, facts to be studied or statistics to be computed sometimes can be selected in a biased manner (Pheng et al 2004). The type of system assumed causes the researcher to look at one component or relationship instead of another. For example, in a competitive market, the existence of stable equilibrium solutions may be assumed, and effort is devoted to exploring stable demand and supply functions.
Expansion and application of theory result in the identification of various sets of relations among facts. So, facts are initiators of theory and serve as a basis for relationships in the establishment of laws, thereby directly influencing the validation of the theory. Caution is necessary: as facts change, relationships change; relationships among erroneous “facts” are erroneous and result in weak if not unacceptable theories. Thus stated, relationships are not easily established and require much testing and interpretation. Scrutiny of the process and results of observing facts and relationships (hypotheses, generalizations, and laws) is required if a theory is to have the conceptual force necessary for assisting with applied research.
Principles provide the organization for managing the evolution from observed relationships of facts to laws and laws to theories (Deleon and Resnick-Terry, 1999). The role of principle in the theoretical system takes the form of assumptions, conventional beliefs and other “rules” that condition the environment within which theory evolves. The principles assist in the specification of hypotheses that express relationships and, when verified through application and time, serve as the basis for generalization, law, and theory. Knowledge formulation interacts with the evolution of theory and involves consensus to synthesis resulting from validation of various responses to the interaction of facts (Best and Langston 2006).
Knowledge, which is more than information, is based on a system of laws more commonly viewed as theory. It is not a collection of laws based on various unrelated but proven hypotheses and generalizations; instead, theory in support of knowledge is a system of laws brought together as relationships that can be altered or expanded through evolutionary hypothesis testing and generalization.
The recent emergence of thought surrounding farming systems research is an example of an evolutionary system of “laws” flowing from socio-economic and bio-physical scientists who desire to better understand and “assist” primarily small farm agriculture. Post-harvest food handling and distribution are assisted by many theory-based systems including physiology, pricing, transportation, storage, processing, inventory, promotion, quality control, consumer preference, and others (Deleon and Resnick-Terry 1999).
Comparative research can help establish cost effective hypotheses for applied problem-oriented research. Resource constraints can be reduced where theory, based on experience and proven conceptualizations, substitutes for investments that otherwise would repeat previous work. Formulation of generalizations (often stated initially as hypotheses) about factual relationships may be efficiently guided by theory. Such generalizations can form the basis for establishing or altering widely accepted sets of generalizations (laws). The theory then, through research applied to real problems, becomes a resource for interpreting, criticizing and unifying established laws that have empirical and experiential content (Best and Langston 2006).
International comparative analysis is neither universally respected nor systematically applied by all individuals. Some people, called realists, find the lack of reality in abstract theoretical models to be unacceptable. The realist views theory as a picture or map that sketches the frontiers of knowledge. Others view theory more as a tool of inquiry in the study of applied problematic situations. These pragmatic experimentalists are more at ease with empirical models and are often referred to as instrumentalists. The instrumentalists’ view is that the significance of theory lies in the investigative action the theory engenders. The realists’ more tempered view of theory is as an “art form” that inspires the imagination to better understand reality. In practice, this duality seldom prevails, and “good” research requires some of both (Deleon and Resnick-Terry 1999).
When facts and relationships are assembled in international research, ordered and conceived in a relationship, they constitute a conceptual system that may become a validated theoretical system. The various facts and relationships in a theoretical system may be logically analyzed and relationships other than those stated in theory can be deduced. From an instrumentalist perspective, we can deduce specific relationships between specific factors for our specific problems by using theory because it is general. The process of problem-oriented research, therefore, begins with a problem and usually with a process of deduction in which theory is employed.
With the theory, we develop hypotheses to be tested to find solutions to our problems. Without international comparative analysis to determine alternative solutions, we might be compelled to use a trial-and-error approach and might have to test and analyze every conceivable solution to the problem (Deleon and Resnick-Terry 1999).
In the construction industry, hypothesis specification is a task that brings theory to bear on applied problem-oriented research and vice versa. The causality specified by problem identification establishes the need for research and the causality presupposed by the related research hypothesis helps resolve the problem. Both depend on the body of knowledge expressed within the theory to suggest alternative causal situations from experience that may lead to successful research and resolution. Simultaneously something may be gained from the test that will respond to the problem and refinements or further verifications of the theory (Clarke and Herrmann 2004).
The use of theory to advance the quest for knowledge as a basis for dealing with life’s problems is a practice that probably began in antiquity. It is so because of our gift of reason, a natural process now assigned various titles, definitions, and explanations. Through the process of compiling and forming theoretical systems, it is possible to achieve both efficiencies for purpose of confronting ever more difficult problems and challenging opportunities (Clarke and Herrmann 2004).
Conclusion
In sum, for construction companies, information is the foundation upon which research is based; hence, one of the major tasks of the researcher is the collection of information for use in the research process. Information in general and data specifically areas critical to the problem identification phase of the project as they are to analysis. Their availability profoundly affects both the quantity and quality of research that can be produced within a given period.
There are few limits to the quantity of data that can be accumulated given sufficient time and resources; however, requirements are narrowed and brought into focus by careful research planning. In some cases, experimentation can reduce the time and resources required to resolve a particular problem when compared with non-experimental data collection. For example, an experiment (a taste panel for example) to determine potential consumer acceptance of a new product before it is marketed can be less time consuming, require fewer resources and involve less financial risk for the industry than consumer response survey research following the full-scale production and marketing of the product.
Researchers must be aware of the effect that certain resource limitations can have on their research. This cognizance will improve their research efforts by increasing the probability that the proposed projects will produce useful results. Projects designed in the absence of this consideration can and frequently do run into difficulties ‒ often the productive potential of the resources utilized is not attained. The result is that less effective information is made available for decision making and problem resolution.
List of References
Best, R., Langston, C. 2006, Evaluation of construction contractor performance: a critical analysis of some recent research. Construction Management and Economics. 24, 439–445.
Clarke, L., Herrmann, G. 2004, Cost vs. production: disparities in social housing construction in Britain and Germany. Construction Management and Economics. 22, 521–532.
Deleon, P., Resnick-Terry, Ph. 1999. Comparative Policy Analysis: Déjà vu all over again? Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. Research and Practice: 1, 9-22.
Pheng, L. S., Hongbin, J., Leong, Ch. 2004. A comparative study of top British and Chinese international contractors in the global market. Construction Management and Economics. 22, 717–731.
Wolcott, H.F. 2001. Writing Up Qualitative Research, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
Wu, Ch., Hsieh, T., Cheg, W.-L., Lu, Sh.-T. 2004. Grey relation analysis of causes for change orders in highway construction. Construction Management and Economics. 22, 509–520.