Abstract

Research plays a large role in the advancement of any industry. It is particularly important that relevant research is performed in an industry as large and critical as the construction industry. A review of literature shows that historically research has not played a major role in the advancement of the construction industry. The work of this thesis was to explore whether there has been a change in this relationship, or not. This thesis explored whether the construction-related research being done is in alignment with the needs of industry. Comparisons of the rankings of construction research and industry views were done to evaluate their correlation to each other. This evaluation was done through a review of literature of four construction research journals. Articles were gathered and classified in common construction themes. Each research theme was given a ranking based on the quantity of articles classified into common construction themes. The research ranking demonstrated that the most popular research theme was training/ human resources, followed by management/ risks and technology/ innovation. A survey was sent to 259 industry professionals asking them to rank the 22 construction themes. A response rate of 14% was achieved through the survey respondents. Survey respondents determine that the most important research theme is constructability, followed by estimating/ bidding and economics/cost control. Findings demonstrate that there was no correlation between the themes that were popularly researched and what is most important to the construction professionals.

Degree

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Technology

Rights

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