Internal Validity External Validity
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of expanding any claims of causality from a studied sample to other ones. Lewin 2005 asserts that the obtained results should be the same results which have come
from the sample in order to be able to generalize the findings. Moreover, Yin 2003 expressed that external validity depends on possibility of generalizing the findings of
a study to an immediate case study.
This study uses theories and models from prior literature to extend propositions for this study. Some of these opinions are explained below:
- Paulson 1976, Jin Levitt 1996 and Ibrahim and Paulson 2008 stated that incomplete and inefficient knowledge transfer causes unnecessary rework
delay and lost revenue in the construction industry. - Valkenburg 1998 expressed that lack of synchronization causes serious
problems for team members in both interactions and communications, and results in misunderstandings and uncoordinated actions.
- Martinez 1998 stated that when an organization lacks a heightened degree of knowledge sharing, knowledge leaks are the results which cause repeated
mistakes, dependence on a few key individuals, duplicated work, lack of sharing of good ideas, and slow introduction of new products or market
solutions. - Macmillan 2001 believed that the conceptual stage of the design process is
particularly difficult to be specified because its phases cannot be described as isolated activities. Additionally, the way in which the activities are described
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is highly ambiguous, with individuals from various disciplines using a variety of terminology to recount the same occurrence.
- Shelborn 2006 highlights that effective knowledge management can reduce project time and cost, improve the quality, and provide a major source of
competitive advantage for the construction organizations. - Ibrahim and Paulson 2008 and Ibrahim and Nissen 2007 found that one
characteristic which contributes to the knowledge loss phenomenon is the different dominating knowledge type for each lifecycle phase.
According to the findings from the abovementioned studies, the researcher attempted to apply such findings to the conceptual design stage of a building project. To
evaluate applicability of the generalized proposition, the proposed model will be simulated using SimVision tool.