Theoretical Extension of Technology †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Theoretical Extension of Technology. Answer: Introduction If it is anything to go by, the construction industry is currently experiencing a revolution that is likely to transform its outlook. The performance of construction is likely to change in future, especially with the continued innovation and adoption of new technologies in the construction and building industry. Rivard (2002) conducted a research survey on the present and future use of information technology.[i] The author sought to investigate the implications for IT on engineering, building and construction, and architecture in the Canadian market. The findings from the study indicated that there was increased computerization of the business processes and a tendency to increase investments in the IT infrastructure. Recent technological transformations in the construction industry include the increased use of virtual reality, business information modeling (BIM), augmented reality, 3D printing, gaming technology, robots and robotic exoskeletons, among other emerging technologies (Nikas, Poulymenakou Kriaris, 2007).[ii] Issues driving the development, introduction, adoption and application of new and emerging technologies within the building and construction industries include rising energy costs, the environmental concerns, the construction boom, high construction costs, rising accidents at work and reducing natural resources (Mitropoulos Tatum, 1999).[iii] 3D printing technology is increasingly becoming popular in addressing majority of these issues and concerns in the construction industry. This section highlights a review of research methods the researcher will use to achieve the purpose of the study. This is a detail review and description of the methods that will be utilized together with the supporting literature to justify their choice and relevance. The researcher will use the qualitative research approach for the aim, goal and objectives of the study and the identified research problem (Huberman, 1985).[iv] The qualitative research approach focuses on collection of subjective information, feelings and experiences of people, subjects and phenomenon in their natural settings. A qualitative investigation creates opportunities for uncovering underlying facts, understanding the incidents, reasons and justifications for pursuing the research question and problems. The focus is on collection of data, meanings and processes that is not easy to measure using experiments or quantitative techniques. The emphasis in quantitative research is to collect insights and information on the social reality, with a major focus on the relationship, links and associations existing between the research, the process of investigation, the subject investigated, and the situational factors that influence the inquiry. The proposed study seeks to understand 3D printing technology, its adoption and potential to revolutionize the future of the construction and building industry in Australia. This study will require the researcher to have a detailed and in depth understanding of the contextual factors relevant to the local Australian construction industry that affect the adoption of the 3D printing technology, and influence of perceptions concerning how easy it is to use the technology and the usefulness and potential for revolutionizing the future of the industry. This information can only collected through a qualitative approach that takes advantage of perceptions, experiences and attitudes surrounding the adoption, application and use of the technology in constructing buildings in Australia. Since experiences, attitudes and perceptions of the future of 3D printing, especially in relation to the building and construction field is critical to this study, the researcher deems the qualitative approach as relevant and appropriate for attainment of the purpose of the investigation (Succar, 2009).[v] The explorative research design will enable the researcher to examine and address the objectives and purpose of the proposed study. Since a few studies have been conducted concerning the development, adoption, use and application of 3D printing in constructing buildings in Australia, the exploratory research design will be appropriate in collecting primary information about the research problem. The exploratory design allows the researcher to gain insights and relevant familiarity with the research topic necessary for conducting a concise investigation of the research problem. Therefore, the exploratory design will enable the researcher to develop familiarity with the concerns surrounding the use, adoption and application of 3D printing in constructing buildings in Australia. The exploratory research design will also enable the researcher to establish ideas, assumptions and develop tentative theoretical foundations to guide future research considerations. Therefore, the exploratory r esearch will be deemed relevant and appropriate design to attain the purpose of the proposed study. In order to conduct the exploratory study, the researcher will use semi-structured interviews with industrial experts and practitioners in Australian construction industry who have experienced the use of 3D printing technology. The participants will be used to validate the developed research questions, provide insights concerning barriers of adoption of 3D printing technology and its potential for revolutionizing the future of the construction industry in Australia. Semi-structured interviews are useful when the researcher aims to collect focused, qualitative and relevant data from the various research participants in the study. Researchers using semi-structured interviews have flexibility and freedom to explore open ended questions in collecting data, analyzing, developing and refining the research question to address the research question, problem and objectives. The semi-structured interviews will be important in moving from the general question where there is limited information about the subject or research problem and establish specific factors and variables to explore in the proposed study. Lastly, semi-structured interviews are important in unearthing and describing existing links and relationships and theoretical background necessary for developing a concise approach to further investigations. Given these and many other benefits, the researcher deemed the semi-structured interview method as relevant, effective and appropriate for collecting information necessary for attainment of the proposed research. The study population will be top and middle management employees from 5 construction industries in Australia with prior experience in implementing 3D printing technology. Purposive sampling technique will be employed in selecting companies and participants that fulfill the inclusion criteria to form the subjects of the study for collection of primary qualitative data. Only companies in the construction industry will participate in the study. Moreover, only companies with prior history and experience in implementing 3D printing technology will participate in the study. The sample size will be n=10 (5 firms, 2 employees from each firm, male and female). The employees will have 5 years working in the building industry, constructing houses and using 3D printing technology. The study will involve middle and top level employees who have considerable influence regarding the adoption and application of 3D printing technology in the company and have experience concerning the potential of 3D printing in revolutionizing the approaches and methods used in constructing buildings in Australia. The proposed study will use self-administered semi-structured questions through face-to-face interviews and interview schedules to collect primary data (DiCicco?Bloom and Crabtree, 2006).[vi] The interview shall comprise 25 semi-structured questions carefully designed to attain the purpose of the study. The questions will be open ended, allowing the respondents and study participants to share their opinions, perceptions and experiences in an a free environment. The questions shall be self-administered and each interview will take appropriately 45 minutes. Prior to the commencement of the study, the researcher will seek permission from the ethics review committee to carry out the investigation. The profiled construction firms will receive official invitations to participate, and only those that accept will be included in the study. The respondents will be provided with informed consent, explaining the purpose of the study, the nature of information to be collected and their rights to voluntarily end their participation in the study. Consent will be sought to tape record the sessions during the interview with the participants for the purpose of the study. In order to safeguard respondents privacy and confidentiality, their personal profiles will be deleted after the interviews and they will be assigned unique identification codes, and their names or personal information excluded from the final report. For the purpose of the proposed study, content analysis will be conducted to aid in analyzing the qualitative data collected. The researcher will identify the common quotes, assign them codes, develop categories for predominant themes, and establish relationships among the different categories using mapping approach (Graneheim and Lundman, 2004; Huberman, 1985).[vii] There are several barriers to the adoption and implementation of new software or technology in any specific field or industry. According to Butler and Sellborn (2002), the complexity of workplaces and the challenges in the control of IT creates significant challenges in its actual implementation.[viii] Regardless of investment in any new technology, its implementation and adoption may fail to meet the satisfactory levels due to inherent barriers that limit its adoption, application, use and potential in revolutionizing the targeted area or industry (Butler Sellborn, 2002).[ix] The technology acceptance theory developed by Davis (1989) will be important in investigating the engineers behavioral intensions to adopt and use 3D printing technology.[x] According to the theory, people embrace new technology based on the perception that it is easy to use and that it is actually useful to their current problems. Hence, the theory will aid in understanding the perceptions surrounding the use of 3D printing in the building and construction industry. Moreover, the study will be informed by the extended technology acceptance theory that supports exploration of the subjective norms influencing the use intentions of new technology (Venkatesh Davis, 2000).[xi] The theory will underscore the subjective norms that inform and influence the use of 3D printing in the building and construction industry. There is a collective believe that 3D printing has the potential to revolutionize and transform the entire construction industry (Bogue, 2013).[xii] 3D printing technology lies within the broad category of additive fabrication that is increasingly becoming popular product manufacturing, design and fabrication of medical, aerospace, jewellery and toy markets (Bogue, 2013).[xiii] Previously used by clients, designers and architects in modeling and conceptualizing building designs, 3D printing is increasingly becoming common in construction of real buildings (Dini, Chiarugi Nannini, 2006).[xiv] According to Dini, Chiarugi and Nannini (2006), marketing firms have created several 3D printing construction machines since 1969.[xv] 3D printing is considered the fastest and most cost-effective technology in manufacturing and construction (Petrick Simpson, 2013).[xvi] While 3D printing technology has been around for decades and significant resources have been invested to develop and improve its applications, it is only recently that the technology has began achieving its potential in terms of pricing and versatility. The manufacturing benefits of 3D printing technology have been documented in numerous research publications. According to Bogue (2013), 3D printing has the potential to transform the fundamentals of product development, design and manufacturing.[xvii] In fact, the 3D printing technology can be applied in virtually all industries, including manufacturing, aircraft, vehicle, and jewellery. Engineers and architects have made little effort to highlight the potential and application of 3D printing technology in the construction industry (Soar, 2006).[xviii] Nevertheless, there is limited focus on the design and development of 3D printing technology for architectural design and construction of buildings (Pasquire, Soar Gibb, 2006).[xix] A major contributor to this issue is the fact that 3D printing technology is a relatively new field, which implies that very little academic and scholarly research and focus has been directed towards the use, application and value of 3D printing for engineers and constructors engaged in constructing buildings. Consequently, the body of knowledge and research on the subject is very limited. The lack of qualitative and quantitative evidence on the state, and use of 3D printing, especially in the local Australian construction and building development industry implies that this subject remains unexplored, creating a gap for future research. Mo reover, the potential and limitations of 3D printing technology in the future of construction industry remains unknown leaving speculations concerning its possibility of increasing efficiency, improving performance and creating sustainable customer value. The above gaps create opportunities for further research on the subject. The proposed study will attempt to fill the identified gaps by focusing the investigation the application possibilities and limitations of 3D printing technology within the building subsector of the construction industry. Moreover, little research and academic investigations exist concerning the use of 3D printing by architectures and contracting firms involved in constructing buildings in Australia. The proposed study will seek to discover issues such as perceptions, experiences, and subjective norms of the engineers and professionals who use 3D printing. Furthermore, the study will investigate the perception of the professionals concerning how it easy it is to use 3D printing and their perceptions concerning the positive effects and limitations created by 3D printing. It will be important to investigate the perceived intention to use and the perceived potential of using 3D printing to revolutionize the constru ction of buildings in the future of Australia. The proposed study will investigate the adoption and use of 3D printing in the construction and building industry. The research will focus on the potential and limitations provided by 3D printing in revolutionizing the future of the construction industry. A qualitative study of the potential positive effects and limitations of 3D printing will be critical towards attaining the purpose of this study. Following the literature review and gaps indentified above, the researcher identified a number of research problems for further investigation. The research problems have been formulated in the form of research questions that the proposed study seeks to address. These include: How can 3D printing technology be adopted in the construction industry in Australia? How can 3D printing technology revolutionize the future of construction industry in Australia? What are the factors hindering the adopting the adoption of 3D printing technology in construction industry in Australia? What are the factors contributing and supporting the adoption and use of 3D printing within the construction and building industry in Australia? The adoption and application of 3D printing technology in Australian construction industry is still at infancy stage. 3D printing can significantly revolutionize the entire construction industry, yet little research focus has been directed towards understanding its effects and power in shaping the future of the industry in Australia. This study is significant because it address the lack of knowledge of the application of 3D printing technology in Australia, and contributes to a body of literature on the potential of 3D to revolutionize the future of the construction industry. The research proposal is limited to the principles governing the adoption and application of new technologies within the construction industry, and specifically the building of houses. Hence, other areas of construction such as roads, railways or other related infrastructure will be beyond the scope of the investigation. These technologies, especially 3D printing can create radical change and paradigm shift in the design and construction process. The proposed research will focus on the application of 3D printing and the expected impact in constructing buildings in Australia. The proposed research will not delve into detailed description of all the new technologies. Instead, the scope of the study will be limited to 3D printing technology. Moreover, the study will not provide detailed description of how 3D printers work and how to use them. In addition, the study will not seek to examine the various types of 3D printing technologies, explanations of their suitability and the durability of the structured constructed using these technologies. This is because the 3D printing technologies are still new and under continuous development, which implies that their functionality and potential will keep evolving as they attain maturity. The proposed study will use qualitative research design, which is likely to affect the credibility of data and findings from the study. It will be very difficult to conduct empirical analyses and establish generalizations of the data to the entire construction industry. Future research will benefit from combining qualitative and quantitative methods to collect more reliable and credible data. Moreover, the study will use sampling technique, which will likely introduce the problem of selection bias and the risks of selecting samples that are not representative of the entire population. In addition, the study will use a small sample size (n=10), which will likely raise concerns regarding the accuracy and reliability of the data collected, and the acceptability of the findings by the experts in the field of 3D printing technology and Australian construction industry. Future research would benefit more with increasing the sample size thus collecting information from as many practitioners in the industry as possible. The main term utilized in the proposed study is 3D printing, which implies using 3-dimentional modeling to make physical objects. The proposed study will make 2 assumptions: 3D printing technology is currently being utilized in the construction industry in Australia 3D printing technology has wide applications and uses across different building having varied specifications The chart below provides the schedule of activities and plans that will be followed in conducting the proposed study. The completion of the study will depend on the approval from the professor and the university ethics committee to conduct the investigation. The first set of activities involving the development and refining of the research problem and question has been completed. This draft represents the next phase of the project, which is development of the research proposal. The rest of the activities are highlighted together with the timelines in months when they will be accomplished. Activity May June July August Sept Oct Nov Refine research problem and question Done Draft research proposal Approval of proposal Develop research tool Seek informed consent and approval Data collection Data analysis and interpretation Develop final research report Presentation of findings The qualitative study is feasible due to the lack of prior research and knowledge on the application of 3D printing in the construction and building industry in Australia. Since it is not possible to develop and test hypothesis resulting into quantifiable data, it would make sense to use qualitative methods to explore the study. The qualitative approach will be useful for collecting subjective data on the subject and developing a new theory. The schedule provided is also feasible. However, the completion of the study will depend on the timeliness of the approval of the proposal. The researcher is ready to roll out the project, and the use of few respondents creates room for completing the study within the schedule. References: Rivard, H. (2002). A survey on the impact of information technology in the Canadian architecture, engineering and construction industry.Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon),5(3), 37-56. Nikas, A., Poulymenakou, A., Kriaris, P. (2007). Investigating antecedents and drivers affecting the adoption of collaboration technologies in the construction industry.Automation in construction,16(5), 632-641 Mitropoulos, P., Tatum, C. B. (1999). Technology adoption decisions in construction organizations.Journal of construction engineering and management,125(5), 330-338. Huberman, M. (1985). Qualitative Data Analysis a Sourcebook of New Methods. Succar, B. (2009). Building information modelling framework: A research and delivery foundation for industry stakeholders.Automation in construction,18(3), 357-375. DiCicco?Bloom, B., Crabtree, B. F. (2006). The qualitative research interview.Medical education,40(4), 314-321. Graneheim, U. H., Lundman, B. (2004). Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness.Nurse education today,24(2), 105-112. Butler, D. L., Sellbom, M. (2002). Barriers to adopting technology.Educause Quarterly,2, 22-28. Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology.MIS quarterly, 319-340. Venkatesh, V., Davis, F. D. (2000). A theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: Four longitudinal field studies. Management science,46(2), 186-204. Bogue, R. (2013). 3D printing: the dawn of a new era in manufacturing?.Assembly Automation,33(4), 307-311 Dini, E., Chiarugi, M., Nannini, R. (2006).Method and device for building automatically conglomerate structures. U.S. Patent Application No. 11/908,993. Petrick, I. J., Simpson, T. W. (2013). 3D printing disrupts manufacturing: how economies of one create new rules of competition.Research-Technology Management,56(6), 12-16. Bogue, R. (2013). 3D printing Soar, R. (2006). Additive Manufacturing technologies for the Construction Industry.Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age, 249-273. Pasquire, C. L., Soar, R. C., Gibb, A. G. F. (2006). Beyond prefabrication-the potential of next generation technologies to make a step change in construction manufacturing. In:Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction.UNSPECIFIED, pp. 243-254