Exploring the Case Study Usage in Construction Engineering and Management Research

• Case studies have become more common and accepted among researchers across a wide array of academic disciplines including construction engineering and management (CEM) research. Among mainstream case study literature, the case study approach is seen primarily as a research method to be used in social sciences to study social phenomena. However, CEM is not considered a social science and construction engineering (CE) often do not study social phenomena. Instead, the field revolves around quantitative and engineering-based matters. This paper aims at studying the usage and characteristics of case studies in CEM research to determine if current literatures on case studies are sufficient for the field or if new approaches are needed. This is conducted through a quantitative inquiry into data from scientific databases and a qualitative analysis of several case study papers in the field of CEM. The results show that case studies are common in the field and in CE they often are used to demonstrate proposed frameworks or models. However, case study literature does not sufficiently describe this approach to case studies, which suggests that the literature needs to be complemented to meet the needs in CEM research.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Byggproduktion (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Construction Management (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Construction Engineering and Management

Byggproduktion

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)