Construction Performance and Productivity Improvement

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Changbum R. Ahn, PhD Email : TBD

SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Construction Performance and

Productivity Improvement

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Introduction

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Lecture # 01 <Course Introduction and Overview>

Disclaimer

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• The “hidden” subtitle of this course is “Research Methods in Construction.”

Please note that the contents of the course are designed toward this subtitle.

• This course is designed as a seminar-type course and involves a lot of self-learning work.

• This course can be greatly deviated from its syllabus. The instructor has a full authority to change the organization/topics.

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Disclaimer

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• This course is delivered in English. While the majority of the course will be in English, some portion can be delivered in Korean based on the

instructor’s discretion.

• Students are required to engage in the course via English, but if you have a difficulty in articulating your idea in English, you can use Korean.

General Rule: Learning is most important!

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What do you notice? What do you wonder?

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What do you notice? What do you wonder?

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What is this course about?

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• Research methodology and research design in the area of construction performance and productivity improvement (construction)

➢ Provide systematic knowledge in formulating a research problem in construction

➢ Motivate and justify, on scientific grounds, the choice of research design and research methodology in relation to a given research question

➢ Choose research design and method on the basis of good research practice and ethical rules

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In addition, we will learn…

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• How to write research aims and objectives

• How to write a problem statement, research questions, hypothesis

• How to write an abstract

• How to write a proposal

• How to review other papers (judge the quality/contribution of peers’ papers)

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Motivation

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• Many grad students in construction (incl. myself) initiate dissertation

research, without much understanding on construction research.

• There is a lot of confusion between

“Research” and “Development”

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Motivation

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• As CEM research has been conducted for more than 70 years, there is a need to learn from the past, in order to

formalize how to do research in construction.

• The most important skills that the grad students need to learn are how to

design a research project.

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Course Organization

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• Lecture/Guest Lecture

• Seminar Discussion

• Term Project: Research Proposal Development

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Seminar Discussion

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• Students will be required to lead one of the seminar sessions, by presenting the summary of academic papers on the assigned topic.

• Students are required to educate the class about the topic and lead the follow-up discussion by posing interesting questions to the class.

• The instructor will assist in the selection of academic papers, and all other students will be required to read selected articles before the session

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Proposal Development and Presentation

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• These assignments will require students to identify a research topic, formulate a research question/hypothesis, and develop a proposal on the designed study.

• Important Dates

✓ 10/6: Pre-proposal (Abstract) submission due

✓ 10/13: Pre-proposal presentation/review

✓ 12/1: Proposal submission due

✓ 12/8: Proposal presentation

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Course Grading

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Tasks Weight

Attendance and Participation 15%

Assignments 20%

Seminar Presentation 25%

Term project 40%

* No exam, quizzes

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References

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1. Fellows, R., and Liu, A., 2008, Research Methods for Construction, 3rd Ed., Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN: 978-1-405-17790-0.

2. Pelz, B., Research Methods for the Social Sciences, Creative Commons License

3. Behzadan, A., COSC 690: Theory of Research in Construction Management, Texas A&M University

4. Laycock, E., Howarth, T., and Watson, P., 2016, The Journey to Dissertation Success for Construction, Property, and Architecture Students, 1st Ed., Routledge, ISBN-10:

1138839175, ISBN-13: 978-1138839175.

5. Naoum, S.G., 2007, Dissertation Research & Writing for Construction Students, 2nd Ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN: 0-750-68264-7.

6. Knight, A., and Ruddock, L., 2008, Advanced Research Methods in the Built Environment, Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN: 978-1-405-16110-7.

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Icebreaker

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• Who are you? (name, your hometown)

• One peculiar (fun) fact about you

• What research are you doing (or do you want to do)?

• In your opinion, what is construction research?

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What is Research?

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• Examples:

• Undergraduate students research the Internet to find the information they need to complete assigned projects or term papers

• Graduate students working on research projects for a professor may see research as collecting or analyzing data related to their project.

• Businesses and consultants research different potential solutions to remedy organizational problems such as a supply chain bottleneck or to identify customer purchase patterns.

These can be research, but cannot be considered as “Scientific Research”

Source: [2]

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Scientific Research

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❖ Science?

a systematic and organized body of knowledge in any area of inquiry that is acquired using “the scientific method.”

❖ Scientific Research

“Research that uses a standardized set of techniques for building scientific knowledge”

*Scientific knowledge: a generalized body of laws and theories to explain a phenomenon or behavior of interest that are acquired using the scientific method

“A creative and systematic work conducted to increase knowledge”

Source: [3]

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Types of Scientific Research

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❖ Natural Science:

The science of naturally occurring objects or phenomena, such as light, objects, matter, earth, celestial bodies, or the human body.

e.g., physical sciences, earth sciences, life sciences.

❖ Social Science:

The science of people or collections of people, such as groups, firms, societies, or economies, and their individual or collective behaviors.

e.g., psychology (the science of human behaviors), sociology (the science of social groups), and economics (the science of firms, markets, and economies)

Source: [2]

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▪ Precise

▪ Accurate

▪ Deterministic Independent of the observer/researcher

Scientific Research

20 Source: [2]

Natural Science

▪ Less accurate

▪ Less deterministic

Social Science

Potential disagreement among

researchers/observers

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Basic Research, Applied Research and Development

21 Source: US NSF (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/randdef/rd-definitions.pdf)

• Basic Research:

Experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular

application or use in view. (Pure research, fundamental)

• Applied Research:

Original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective.

• Experimental Development:

Systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes.

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Examples

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❖ Basic Research:

Discovery of DNA structure and mechanism

1953, James Watson & Francis Creek

❖ Applied Research:

Development of DNA recombination technology

1973, Boyer & Cohen

❖ Experimental Development:

Genetically modified tomatoes made not to soften easily for a long time

1994, Calgene

DNA Structure

DNA recombination

GMO Tomatoes

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Where does your project belong?

23 Source: US NSF (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/randdef/rd-definitions.pdf)

Basic Research

Applied Research

Experimental Development

Commercial Development

Scientific Research

Implementation

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Scientific Research?

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• Examine which chairs in the market are comfortable

• Examine what factors of a chair affect human comfort

• Examine what factors of Poang chair affect

human comfort

IKEA Poang Chair

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Scientific Research?

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IKEA Poang Chair

• Create a chair design that is most comfortable to a human

• Create a chair design that follows ergonomic design guidelines

• Devise a method to objectively measure human comfort in using a chair

• Evaluate human comfort of top ten chair

designs

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Scientific Research?

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IKEA Poang Chair

• Fabricate a Poang chair, using the given manual

• Develop an optimized fabrication method of a Poang chair, using genetic algorithm.

• Examine which factors in chair fabrication

cause potential schedule delay.

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Scientific Research in Construction?

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• Develop a method to generate an optimized material storage layout, using genetic algorithm

• Create an optimized material storage layout in Project A, using genetic algorithm.

• Develop an automatic method to detect workers with safety vest, using YOLO5 (computer vision object detection algorithm)

• Detect workers with safety vest, using YOLO5 (computer vision

object detection algorithm)

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Scientific Research in Construction?

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• Evaluate and compare the environmental impact of RC and SRC structure buildings, using LCA

• Evaluate and compare the environmental impact of Project A,

which is RC structure, and Project B, which is SRC structure

buildings, using LCA

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Five Criteria for Identifying R&D

29 Source: OECE Frascati Manual (https://www.oecd.org/sti/frascati- manual-2015-9789264239012-en.htm)

• To be aimed at new findings (novel)

• To be based on original, not obvious, concepts and hypotheses (creative)

• To be uncertain about the final outcome (uncertain)

• To be planned and budgeted (systematic)

• To lead to results that could be possibly reproduced (transferable and/or reproducible)

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In-class Activities

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• Please write or revise your research objective to be “scientific

research.” If you don’t have any research yet, you can make

one for very general purpose.

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Types of Scientific Research

31 Source: [2]

❖ Instrumental:

Construction/calibrate research instruments, whether physical measuring equipment or as tests/data collection. The evaluation will be based on theory.

e.g., Evaluate the accuracy of GPS on construction jobsite

❖ Exploratory (vs confirmatory):

the preliminary research to clarify the exact nature of the problem to be solved.

(1) to scope out the magnitude or extent of a particular phenomenon, problem, or behavior, (2) to generate some initial ideas (or “hunches”) about that phenomenon, or

(3) to test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study regarding that phenomenon.

e.g., Examine workers’ perception on construction robotics

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Types of Scientific Research

32 Source: [2]

❖ Descriptive:

Systematically identify and record a phenomenon, process, or system.

Such identification and recording will be done from a particular

perspective and, often, for a specified purpose. “what, where, and when of a phenomenon”

e.g. Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Health and Well-Being of Project- Based Construction Workers

❖ Explanatory:

Answer a particular question or explain a specific issue/phenomenon.

“why and how types of questions”

e.g. Development of causal model of construction accident causation

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Scientific Research in Construction

33 Source: [3]

• “Does the manuscript present a specific, easily identifiable advance in knowledge? Is it applicable and useful to the profession? ”

• “Is the subject matter within the scope of the journal? Or is it better suited to another journal?”

- ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (JCEM)

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Lecture # 01 <Course Introduction and Overview> 34

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Assignment

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✓ Pick one of the papers in the below list and read/review.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lv8iSLC-a7MDEPm- cW7KuRJ8RnNAjVeq0vFSC3U-KGg/edit?usp=sharing

✓ Prepare a 5-min presentation regarding:

- What is this paper about?

- What type of scientific research is this paper presenting?

- Basic, Applied, Experimental Development

- Instrumental, Exploratory, Descriptive, Explanatory, or other type - Is the subject matter of this paper within the scope of JCEM? How?

- What is a specific, identifiable contribution that this paper is presenting?

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Readings

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✓ Fifty Years of Progress in Construction Engineering Research

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9364%282007%29133%3A9%28635%29

✓ CEM Research for the Next 50 Years: Maximizing Economic, Environmental, and Societal Value of the Built Environment

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9364%282007%29133%3A9%28619%29