Survey Studies in Construction Project Engineering

Abstract

Construction project engineering provides us with both specialist knowledge and the skills and competencies necessary in decision-making concerning construction company management and carrying out construction projects, which requires reliable information and a wealth of knowledge on technical, societal, legal and economic conditions in the aspect of carrying out the process of construction, in addition to the skills necessary to make managerial decisions under market conditions while accounting for the expectations and preferences of developers and users alike. Survey studies can be a source of this data. This paper presents the results of the author’s research experience and proposals concerning the possibility of applying survey studies in construction project engineering. The author presented the results of many years of her original studies and analyses of the potential for applying survey methods in construction project engineering, a methodological and analytical approach typical for studying social phenomena and processes which is rarely used in the technical sciences. The author argues that the methods are appropriate and can be helpful in construction project engineering and, as a result, can support decision-makers in the process of making decisions. The author analysed and described the possibility of applying survey studies in both research and practice in the field of construction project engineering and proposed a typology of survey studies in said field. Survey methods are a source of valuable data, either individually or when paired with other methods, and can provide information that is then studied by researchers. The conclusions of these studies can be used to diagnose and prognosticate phenomena and problems or to control processes. Most importantly, such studies and their results support decision-makers in the difficult process of making decisions. When designing and carrying out survey studies, one should always inspect the soundness of the survey’s design and measurement quality (reliability and accuracy). Further studies should focus on developing measurement reliability verification methods adequately to the most common research problem groups in construction project engineering. There also exists a practical need to develop proposals of survey question sets that correspond to the most commonly observed research problems in construction project engineering.