Appraising the utility of Internet-mediated communication for qualitative data collection in built environment research

Abstract

Qualitative researchers within the built environment (BE) research community are confronted with data collection challenges. Such challenges have been attributed to the nature of the construction industry which has been described as fraught with high worker turnover rates and tight schedule of project stakeholders. These features diminish a researcher's chances of engaging in successful and in-expensive data collection exercises. A cursory look at studies reveals the fixation of qualitative researchers within the BE discipline on conventional qualitative data collection techniques whilst neglecting internet-mediated communication (IMC) techniques. This study contributes towards elucidating the usefulness of IMC techniques as a data collection approach for qualitative researchers in the built environment domain. An asynchronous online discussion forum (AODF) case study is deployed as an exemplar in this study. Advantages of ADOF highlighted in the reviewed include: its cost-effectiveness, automatic transcription, ability to reach discussants across various geographical contexts, etc. Also, its shortcomings, like the challenge of sustaining thread discussions were observed. In furtherance to this, it was discovered that the attainment of theoretical saturation with the AODF posed a challenge. It is expected that this study will contribute to the emerging discourse on the utility of such IMC techniques in the built environment domain, particularly with the evolving industry 4.0 agenda.