Secondary Research Methods in the Built Environment

The use of secondary data for research can offer benefits, particularly when limited resources are available for conducting research using primary methods. Researchers and students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including their academic instructors, are increasingly recognising the immense opportunities in applying secondary research methods in built environment research. Advances in technology has also led to vast amounts of existing datasets that can be utilized for secondary research. This textbook provides a systematic guide on how to apply secondary research methods in the built environment, including their various underpinning methodologies. It provides guidance on the secondary research process, benefits, and drawbacks of applying secondary research methods, how to source for secondary data, ethical considerations, and the various secondary research methods that can be applied in built environment research. The book incorporates chapters dealing with qualitative secondary analysis, systematic literature reviews, legal analysis, bibliometric and scientometric analysis, literature-based discovery, and meta-analysis.

Secondary Research Methods in the Built Environment is an ideal research book for undergraduate and postgraduate students in construction management, construction project management, quantity surveying, construction law and dispute resolution, real estate and property management, building services engineering, architecture, and civil engineering.

Author Biography

Emmanuel Manu is an Associate Professor in Quantity Surveying and Project Management at the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University. He has supervised and examined several doctoral research projects in construction project management and engages in research consultancy, both in the UK and internationally. His research interests span the areas of construction supply chain management, circular economy in the built environment, sustainable procurement and social value, and smart and digital processes for performance improvement in the built environment. He has collaborated with industry partners to deliver research and consultancy projects totalling over £9m, with two notable projects being on implementing Cradle to Cradle® principles (sustainability paradigm) in the built environment and the other on supply chain performance improvement. He is a member of the Association for Project Management and a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

Julius Akotia is a senior lecturer in Construction Project Management at the school of Architecture, Computing and Engineering (ACE), University of East London (UEL). He is also the link coordinator for the ACE academic ‘international partnership’ BSc Construction Management programmes with AMC metropolitan college in Greece, Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering (KSUAE) in Russia, and Ain Shams University (ASU) in Egypt. He has supervised several undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctorial students and played external examiner role for national and international institutions. He is a chartered member of Chartered Institute of Building (MCIOB) and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). His research interests lie in the area of sustainability, with a focus on the social and economic sustainability aspects of sustainable regeneration. He has published over 18 peer-reviewed research papers in local and international conferences and academic journals.