(Ebook) Research methods for construction by Richard Fellows; Anita Liu ISBN 9781444309454, 1444309455

(Ebook) Research methods for construction by Richard Fellows; Anita Liu ISBN 9781444309454, 1444309455

Preface to Third Edition . Preface to Second Edition . Part 1 Producing a Proposal . 1 Introduction . The concept of research. Classifications of research. Theories and paradigms. Research styles. Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Where to begin. Summary. References. 2 Topic for Study . Selection of a topic. Writing the proposal. Summary. References. Part 2 Executing the Research . 3 Initial Research . The research process. Initial search. Assembling the theoretical framework. Philosophy and methodology. Theoretical models and constructs. Proper referencing. Summary. References. 4 Approaches to Empirical Work . Role of experience. Research design. Qualitative approaches. Quantitative approaches. Experimental design (including experiments and quasi-experiments). Case study research. Modelling. Simulation. Summary. References. 5 Hypotheses . Essentials of a valid hypothesis. Roles of hypotheses. Objective testing of hypotheses. Role of sampling. Common statistical measures. Null hypotheses. Validities. Summary. References. 6 Data Collection . Data requirements. Collecting data from respondents. Sampling. Sample size. Scales of measurement. Obtaining data. Summary. References. 7 Data Analysis . Analysing data. Plotting data. Statistical methods. Non-parametric tests. Parametric tests. Other analytical techniques. Summary. References. 8 Ethics in Research . The concepts of morals and ethics. Research ethics. Data analysis, intellectual property and data protection. Summary. References. Part 3 Reporting the Results . 9 Results, Inferences and Conclusions . Requirements for valid results. Potential sources of error. Reliability. Results. Inferences. Conclusions. Summary. References. 10 Reports and Presentations . Report production. Communication. Contents of the report. Oral presentation. Summary. Index