Adopted Research Process

Research is a dynamic operation and so it must be flexible which means that a contingency approach can be adopted in order to facilitate this. According to Bhagat and Kedia (1996), using a particular approach in a study provides for both change and development. Therefore, there must be a proposed process for this study concerning the ability of the method to explore whether traits of personality can enhance the performance of safety in construction sites in Saudi Arabia, as Figure 6.5 explains. This thesis focuses on the contribution construction workers make to safety performance by exploring their safety behaviour. Understanding the safety behaviour of construction workers should provide opportunities for improvements to be made beyond traditional practices in safety management.

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Figure 6.5: Research process adopted for the study 6.6.1.1 Literature Review

According to Fellows and Liu (2008), a literature review is considered as a mission that mentions previous theories and the results of other studies and specific applications of relevant theory. In addition, a literature review is a logical and clear presentation of related studies that have been carried out in the area of the study. Sekaran (2003) argued that the main aims of a literature review are to define and concentrate on critical variables, as well as to document particular results of earlier studies to obtain a theoretical foundation for the present subjects or to address gaps within the knowledge which then enhance the performance of the project. Both Leedy and Ormrod (2005) demonstrated that the literature mentions theoretical views and earlier results relating to the study’s problems in order to view the performance of others in the same subject or field of study. In this study, the literature review (as mentioned in Chapters two, three, four and five) describes the equipment that is used to enhance performance in the construction field and the nature of the industry of construction; it discusses safety performance in the construction industry in general and, significantly, health and safety in construction sites in Saudi Arabia; it also describes

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attitudes to safety behaviour and personality traits; and it offers an overview of the Saudi construction industry and the current performance of health and safety in construction. This review therefore has three important roles: acting as a basis for the foundation of the current framework; shedding light on current matters, knowledge and practices, and concentrating on filling gaps; and providing a strong basis for this study by focusing on related matters.

6.6.1.2 Data Collection

According to Yin (2008), using different sources of data collection helps sources to complete each other. There are six recommended data sources which are: physical artefacts, participant-observation, direct observation, interviews, archival records and documentation. In this study, a questionnaire survey was used to collect case-specific data to address the research objectives. The questionnaire had three sections. The respondents were first required to provide background information in the following sections: demographic information, an incident checklist, how many times in the last 6 months they had experienced certain accidents/incidents at work, and the number of injuries and near misses experienced (a near miss being an accident that almost happened). The next section sought to collect data for The Big Five Personality Traits that were measured using a short version of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992); this version consisted of 60 items. Here, participants rate each item on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The last section sought to collect data on safety performance. A great deal of attention was paid to collecting data in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia in order to focus specifically on this location, as well as to achieve the research’s aims and objectives. 300 copies of the questionnaire were distributed and 223 were returned with 219 being complete and valid for statistical analysis. The final sample consisted of 219 participants from five construction firms in Saudi Arabia and the variables were selected keeping in mind the vast nature of the topic and the importance of returning with ample information to support the facts and figures. This was a reasonable response to the study as it allowed the researcher to work on the data and analyze them so that the output could show clear results that focused on improvements in the construction industry from the perspective of health and safety standards, as well as from an economic point of view.

6.6.1.3 Data Analysis

After data have been collected from participants, the next step in quantitative research is to analyze the information in order to answer the research questions. Zikmund et al. (2010) demonstrated that data analysis has four phases: data editing, coding, filing, and analysis.

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Editing data is the operation that creates more reliable, complete, legible and consistent data; it also prepares the data to be coded which is considered the next step in analyzing the data. Also, editing provides more efficient checking and avoids mistakes caused by respondents’ lack of understanding of any item in the questionnaire and problems that must be adjusted or fixed to obtain concise and reliable data. Editing must be conducted on the same day the data are collected in order to offer further information or explanation to respondents to allow them to complete the questionnaire, as Robertson et al. (1999) showed. The next step is coding the data which involves dividing the edited information into numerical scores or symbols in order to carry out a computer analysis easily and quickly. Coding data must be conducted carefully to avoid any errors of repetition, as Zikmund et al. (2010) illustrated. The third step is the filing of the data to save information in a spreadsheet for the next phase of the analysis. The earlier phases are conducted to check for errors in the data before they are analysed. Zikmund et al. (2010) have proposed four types of analysis: multivariate, bivariate, univariate, and descriptive for addressing research at this level of study. Descriptive analysis or using statistics are operations that change raw data by describing their main features such as variability, distribution and tendency (Zikmund et al., 2010). Analyzing the connections among the collected information creates a logical organisation which allows for better understanding. Univariate analysis is conducted by analyzing information or exploring the hypotheses according to one variable, as mentioned by Bryman and Bell (2007) while Zikmund et al. (2010) noted that bivariate analyses provide access to information by exploring the interaction between two variables while multivariate analysis assesses information according to more than three variables or a group of variables. These kinds of analysis reveal connections between variables to offer evidence about variations in one variable compared with variations in other variables. Connections between variables can be evaluated by using different techniques that deal with the nature of the variables that are being analyzed (Bryman and Bell, 2007). According to Zikmund et al. (2010), techniques that work in the multivariate method can be combined, such as dependence techniques that deal with discriminant analysis, different forms of regression analysis, and Structural Equation Modelling and interdependent techniques that deal with multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and factor analysis. Selecting suitable techniques will provide a statistical and theoretical basis that will work with the assessment scales used for the collected data.

114 • Personality traits,

• Safety behaviour,

• Accident and incident rates.

The connection between the respondents’ attitudes to safety behaviour and incident rates is explored in this study. This is followed by a critical discussion concerning how personality traits affect safety behavior and a study of the Big Five Personality Model in order to answer the six quantitative research questions proposed below:

• Is there a relationship between safety behaviour (safety participation, safety compliance and safety motivation) and incident rated?

• Does conscientiousness moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and the incident rate?

• Does openness moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and the incident rate?

• Does neuroticism moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and the incident rate?

• Does agreeableness moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and the incident rate?

• Does extraversion moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and the incident rate?

Since this research involved multiple variables that lent themselves to real number characteristics, the quantitative methodology was adopted to show how the personality traits mediated the relationship between incident rates and safety behaviour. This was achieved by using a statistical instrument that helped to clarify and interpret the data correctly and thoroughly. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used in this study as a tool of quantitative analysis. Using an instrument that can represent data in a logical and efficient way helps to eliminate researcher bias.

6.6.1.4 Conceptual framework

Miles and Huberman (1994) defined a conceptual framework as determining the primary variables, constructs and factors, and the presumed connections between them. The conceptual framework offers not only a causal/analytical setting, but also an mechanism for

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interpreting the results from the study to respond appropriately to the research question and aim. As such it presents both hard factual knowledge, as well as a “soft interpretation of intentions” (Levering, 2002).