See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/305767124

Qualitative research in engineering management

Conference Paper · October 2012

CITATIONS READS
2 13,301

1 author:

Zikai Zhou
University of Southern Mississippi
10 PUBLICATIONS   31 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Zikai Zhou on 02 August 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 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
Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012
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
 Zhou

been marginalized. It aims to understand individual something new that has some
cases, acknowledges authors’ biases as part of their kind of value.
research and usually starts with information and try to Observing or finding
make sense of it through an inductive approach. Discovery
something unknown
Concerning the nature of
The Paradigm for Qualitative research everyday human social
Although researchers espouse different views of how Micro-sociology
interactions and agency on a
methods may be categorized and conceptualized in small scale: face to face
Qualitative Research, there are still some common
paradigms. Exhibit 1 lists the paradigms for Qualitative Methodologies for Qualitative Research
Research based on the work of Hancock (1998), In the past 20 years, a lot of researches has been
Decrop (1999), Kenneth (2000), Hignett (2005). conducted under the paradigm of qualitative research
and different methods were used by different
Exhibit 1. Paradigms for Qualitative Research researchers. Some commonly used methodologies in
qualitative research have been developed and
Paradigms established. Exhibit 2 lists the methodologies for
qualitative research from the work of Robinson and
Accords primacy to subjective
Driscoll (1993), Hancock (1998), Perl and Noldon
Subjectivism experience as fundamental of
(2000), Savenye and Robinson (2005), Mack and
all measure and law
MacQueen (2005), Hignett (2005), Case and Light
Natural systems and their
(2011). The discussion of each methodology is out of
Holism properties viewed as wholes,
the scope of this paper, for more information and
not as collections of parts.
details, please review the papers from the authors.
Refer to subjective experiences
Phenomenology
or their study
Exhibit 2. Methodologies for Qualitative Research
Objectively analyzing and
Description describing how language is
spoken Methodologies
Focus is on understanding the
meanings that social actions Case Study Transcendental Realism
Interpretivism
have for the people being
studied Grounded Theory Heuristics
Observable events are fully
explainable by natural causes Ethnography Hermeneutics
Naturalism
without reference to the
supernatural Holistic Ethnography Life History
A process where one starts Cognitive
Inductive Symbolic Interactionism
from a specific experience and Anthropology
reasoning
draws inferences from it Ethnography of
An abstract or physical object, Participant Observation
Communication
such as a person, situation, or Nonparticipant
message whereby one is able Ethnomethodology
Understanding Observation
to think about it and use
concepts to deal adequately Action Research In-depth Interviews
with that object Participatory Action
A form of sampling in which Focus Groups
Research
the selection of the sample is
Purposive Policy research Ecological Psychology
based on the judgment of the
sampling
researcher as to which subjects
best fit the criteria of the study Phenomenology Orientational
Augmenting knowledge,
Discourse Analysis Critical Inquiry
Inquiry from the resolving doubt, or solving a
inside problem from the researchers
Narrative Analysis Semiotic Approach
themselves
Refers to the phenomenon Document and Artifact
Creativity Content analysis
whereby person creates Analysis

Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012

 Zhou

Data Collection for Qualitative Research not as measurable as quantitative data by using
There are various ways of data collection such as statistics technologies, but we are more interested in
participant observation, non-participant observation, using the data to describe a phenomenon, to articulate
field notes, reflexive journals, structured interview, what they mean and to understand them. (Hancock,
semi-structured interview, unstructured interview, 1998 & Decrop, 1999)
analysis of documents and materials, etc (Marshall & There are many ways of data management and
Rossman, 1999). In general, there are three basic types analysis, however most of them typically share some
of them which are interviews, observations and common steps or processes. Those steps are shown in
documents (Hignett, 2005). Exhibit 3 gives a brief Exhibit 4 and they are data coding, data reduction, data
explanation of different data sources for qualitative display and drawing conclusion, respectively. Data
research. coding means that labeling or coding every item of
information in order to summarize and break them
Exhibit 3. Different Data Sources for Qualitative down into different themes or categories and data
Research 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
Different Data Sources
display the data by using charts, graphs, diagrams,
To get the data by asking tables, matrices, or any other devices in order to help
Interviews questions or talking to the find the regularities and causality of the data sets, and
interviewees the last step is to draw the conclusion or describe the
To get the data from the outside phenomenon based on regularities, patterns and causal
Observations world through senses, or using flows of the displayed data.
scientific instruments
To get the data by reading the Exhibit 4. Steps of Qualitative Research Data Analysis
Documents
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 Triangulation Analysis in Qualitative Research
information-rich. Homogenous sampling requires Qualitative research is often criticized by the extent of
focus, less variation and simplified analysis. Criterion its credibility, transferability, reliability, and objectivity
sampling picks cases that need some criterion. In this because of the highly involvement of the researcher
paper, we just describe some of them. For more details and the way of data collection, management and
of each sampling strategy, please review papers of analysis. Triangulation which means verifying
Patton (1990) and Hignett (2005). Here we need to qualitative information by looking at the same
notice that when we choose our sampling strategies for phenomenon from different angles can better handle
our qualitative research, the combination of a few of these skepticisms. Denzin (1978) developed four types
them may work better. of triangulation for qualitative research. They are data
triangulation, method triangulation, theoretical
Manage and Analyze the Qualitative Research Data triangulation and investigator triangulation. Exhibit 5 is
Data analysis during the research is to summarize the a brief summary for these four types of triangulation.
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

Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012

 Zhou

Exhibit 5. Summary of Four Types of Triangulation researcher, the topic, and the participants in the study.
Hignett (2005) points out that the strength of
qualitative research is to differentiate between
Triangulation Interpretation methodologies used for testing relationships which
mostly provides a description of the situation or
Data Uses avariety data sources in a language characteristics have been placed in the
Triangulation study observation-only tier.
Method Uses multiple methods to study a The main weakness of the qualitative research is
Triangulation single problem time consuming for the data collection, data
management and data analysis. Perl and Noldon (2000)
Theoretical Uses multiple perspectives to indicate that a very large number of interviews need to
Triangulation interpret a single set of data be conducted before one can claim to make any sort of
Investigator Uses several different researchers generalization about a given population. Another
Triangulation to evaluate the same body of data weakness of qualitative methods is their vulnerability
to sources of both external and internal validity (Gall,
Gall & Borg, 1996). We should notice that most
A Big Picture qualitative research is not easy to be replicated.
The following exhibit is a big picture for the process of Although it is possible to study long-term trends
qualitative research. utilizing a series of interviews over a long period of
time, it would be much more difficult to sustain the
Identify the Choose the continuity and consistency of a qualitative study’s
Research Research interview protocol and interpretive methods (Perl &
Questions Methodology Noldon, 2000).

The Implementation of Qualitative Research in

Select the Engineering Management
Collect the Sampling Nowadays, much of the research in engineering
Data Strategies management has been done by using a quantitative
research philosophy and methodologies, such as
research in project management, cost management,
Manage and Conduct the supply chain management, etc., which are more about
Analyze the Triangulation theory testing and methods of statistics being used in
Data Sets Analysis 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
Address the
will introduce an example of qualitative research in
Discussion and
Conclusion engineering management.

Exemplar Paper. Garcia-Crespo, A. (2010). A

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
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

Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012

 Zhou
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 partner-
supplier 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
Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012
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 mono-
method 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.
 Zhou
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-
Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012
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.
 Zhou

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. 221-
235.

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.

Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012

View publication stats