Why replication studies are essential: learning from failure and success

Van Witteloostuijn’s (2016) commentary “What happened to Popperian Falsification?” is an excellent summary of the many problems that plague research in the (Social) Sciences in general and (International) Business & Management in particular. As van Witteloostuijn (2016:pp] admits his “[...] diagnosis is anything but new – quite the contrary”, nor is it applicable only to the Social Sciences. When preparing this note, I was reminded of Cargo Cult Science, a 1974 Caltech commencement address by Physicist Richard Feynman (Feynman, 1974), which – more than four decades ago – makes many of the same points, including the pervasive problem of a lack of replication studies, which will be the topic of this short rejoinder. Conducting replication studies is more difficult in International Business (IB) than it is in many other disciplines. For instance in Psychology – a discipline that favours experimental research – one might be able to replicate a particular study within weeks or, in some cases, even days. However, in IB data collection is typically very time-consuming and fraught with many problems not encountered in purely domestic research (for a summary see Harzing, Reiche & Pudelko, 2013). Moreover, most journals in our field only publish articles with novel research findings and a strong theoretical contribution, and are thus not open to replication studies. To date, most studies in IB are therefore unique and are never replicated. This is regrettable, because even though difficult, replication is even more essential in IB than it is in domestic studies, because differences in cultural and institutional environments might limit generalization from studies conducted in a single home or host country. Somehow though, pleas for replication studies – however well articulated and however often repeated – seem to be falling on deaf ears. Academics are only human, and many humans learn best from personal stories and examples, especially if they evoke vivid emotions or associations. Hence, in this note, instead of providing yet another essayistic plea for replication, I will attempt to argue “by example”. I present two short case studies from my own research: one in which the lack of replication resulted in the creation of myths, and another in which judicious replication strengthened arguments for a new – less biased – measure of research performance. Finally, I will provide a recommendation on how to move forward that can be implemented immediately without the need for a complete overhaul of our current system of research dissemination

Why replication studies are essential: learning from failure and success

Van Witteloostuijn’s (2016) commentary “What happened to Popperian Falsification?” is an excellent summary of the many problems that plague research in the (Social) Sciences in general and (International) Business & Management in particular. As van Witteloostuijn (2016:pp] admits his “[...] diagnosis is anything but new – quite the contrary”, nor is it applicable only to the Social Sciences. When preparing this note, I was reminded of Cargo Cult Science, a 1974 Caltech commencement address by Physicist Richard Feynman (Feynman, 1974), which – more than four decades ago – makes many of the same points, including the pervasive problem of a lack of replication studies, which will be the topic of this short rejoinder. Conducting replication studies is more difficult in International Business (IB) than it is in many other disciplines. For instance in Psychology – a discipline that favours experimental research – one might be able to replicate a particular study within weeks or, in some cases, even days. However, in IB data collection is typically very time-consuming and fraught with many problems not encountered in purely domestic research (for a summary see Harzing, Reiche & Pudelko, 2013). Moreover, most journals in our field only publish articles with novel research findings and a strong theoretical contribution, and are thus not open to replication studies. To date, most studies in IB are therefore unique and are never replicated. This is regrettable, because even though difficult, replication is even more essential in IB than it is in domestic studies, because differences in cultural and institutional environments might limit generalization from studies conducted in a single home or host country. Somehow though, pleas for replication studies – however well articulated and however often repeated – seem to be falling on deaf ears. Academics are only human, and many humans learn best from personal stories and examples, especially if they evoke vivid emotions or associations. Hence, in this note, instead of providing yet another essayistic plea for replication, I will attempt to argue “by example”. I present two short case studies from my own research: one in which the lack of replication resulted in the creation of myths, and another in which judicious replication strengthened arguments for a new – less biased – measure of research performance. Finally, I will provide a recommendation on how to move forward that can be implemented immediately without the need for a complete overhaul of our current system of research dissemination

The Role of blue spaces on health and well-being

The incorporation and regeneration of blue spaces in urban areas could promote health in cities. Nevertheless, research on the effects of these spaces is still scarce. This thesis aimed to evaluate the influence of blue spaces and related infrastructure on the health and well-being of the population. On the one hand, our findings suggested that the regeneration of a blue space in urban areas promotes their use, particularly among those usually underrepresented, while enhancing physical activity and social interactions. Altogether, this translated into health, well-being and health-related economic benefits, through the prevention of disease and premature mortality. On the other hand, we showed that acute exposure to blue spaces has positive effects on mood and well-being. Further research is still necessary to fully comprehend the effects of blue spaces on health, the pathways underlying such association, and the risks potentially related to the exposure to blue spaces.La incorporació i renovació d’espais blaus en àrees urbanes podria promoure la salut a les ciutats. No obstant, la investigació sobre els efectes d’aquests espais encara és escassa. Aquesta tesi té per objectiu avaluar la influència dels espais blaus i la infraestructura relacionada, en la salut i el benestar de la població. Per una banda, els nostres resultats van suggerir que la renovació d’un espai blau en àrees urbanes promou el seu ús, particularment entre aquells normalment infrarepresentats, alhora que millora l’activitat física i les interaccions socials. En conjunt, això es tradueix en beneficis per la salut, el benestar, i econòmics relacionats amb la salut, mitjançant la prevenció de malalties i la mortalitat prematura. Per altra banda, vam demostrar que l’exposició aguda als espais blaus té efectes positius en l’estat d’ànim i el benestar. Encara és necessària més investigació per comprendre plenament els efectes dels espais blaus en la salut, els mecanismes subjacents a aquesta associació, i els que poden estar relacionats amb l’exposició a espais blaus

Application of geographic information system and modelling in health impact assessment for urban road mobility in Vietnam

Transport is an essential sector in modern societies. It connects economic sectors and industries. Next to its contribution to economic development and social interconnection, it also causes adverse impacts on the environment and results in health hazards. Transport is a major source of ground air pollution, especially in urban areas, and therefore contributing to the health problems, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, and physical injuries. This thesis presents the results of a health risk assessment that quantifies the mortality and the diseases associated with particulate matter pollution resulting from urban road transport in Hai Phong City, Vietnam. The focus is on the integration of modelling and GIS approaches in the exposure analysis to increase the accuracy of the assessment and to produce timely and consistent assessment results. The modelling was done to estimate traffic conditions and concentrations of particulate matters based on geo-references data. A simplified health risk assessment was also done for Ha Noi based on monitoring data that allows a comparison of the results between the two cases. The results of the case studies show that health risk assessment based on modelling data can provide a much more detail results and allows assessing health impacts of different mobility development options at micro level. The use of modeling and GIS as a common platform for the integration of different assessments (environmental, health, socio-economic, etc.) provides various strengths, especially in capitalising on the available data stored in different units and forms and allows handling large amount of data. The use of models and GIS in a health risk assessment, from a decision making point of view, can reduce the processing/waiting time while providing a view at different scales: from micro scale (sections of a city) to a macro scale. It also helps visualising the links between air quality and health outcomes which is useful discussing different development options. However, a number of improvements can be made to further advance the integration. An improved integration programme of the data will facilitate the application of integrated models in policy-making. Data on mobility survey, environmental monitoring and measuring must be standardised and legalised. Various traffic models, together with emission and dispersion models, should be tested and more attention should be given to their uncertainty and sensitivit

Methodology to predict construction contractors’ performance using non-price measures

Despite being one of the largest industry sectors in the world, construction continues to suffer from underperformance. Contractors are the driving force behind built assets, and selecting high-performing contractors is crucial to the success of construction projects. However, the industry lacks a systematic and purpose-driven method of assessing contractors’ performance using objective metrics. Furthermore, contractors do not have a systematic way to gauge their own performance in the pursuit of continuous improvement. Although there are numerous approaches to the measurement of contractors’ performance, the literature suggests that most are complicated and highly dependent on data that are difficult to attain. The research presented in this thesis addresses this knowledge gap by creating a model for predicting construction contractors’ performance based on directly attributable measures that are quantitatively measurable and easily accessible. The findings of this research make a number of contributions to theory and practice. The developed performance model—the Contractors’ Performance Index (CPIx) provides a performance score based on seven non-price CMoPs. As the CPIx is based on factors that are within the control of the contractor, it provides a fair and independent assessment of performance that is not influenced by other factors. In an industry significantly driven by pricebased decisions that are solely based on non-price measures, the CPIx shifts the focus towards other aspects such as quality, health and safety, sustainability and productivity when evaluating performance, leaving price based measures for commercial considerations. Contractors can use the CPIx to self-evaluate their levels of project and organisational performance. If implemented as a sector-based performance evaluator, it can then be used to develop industry benchmarks for different categories of construction. The CPIx is presented as a prototype mobile application that can be conveniently used by various stakeholders to track performance within the construction industry

Barriers to innovation and knowledge generation: The challenges of conducting business and social research in an emerging country context

© 2018 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge The Middle East, as a region, contributes proportionally less to new knowledge generation than other parts of the world. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has sought to correct this imbalance through efforts to promote a knowledge-based economy and through educational investment. In light of these advances, significant challenges still remain in the promotion and production of high quality research in the social sciences, including business. The current monograph highlights the vital importance of such research to the social and economic development of the UAE. Reflecting on nearly a decade of conducting research in the UAE with varying degrees of success the authors highlight critical incidents, experiences and observations which serve to illustrate the challenges of new knowledge creation in the business and social sciences. Discussions focus on identifiable barriers to high quality research at both the micro and macro levels, within and outside the UAE, with specific recommendations on how such barriers can be overcome

Applications of practical process modeling based on statistics, multivariate analysis, and simulation in pharmaceutical development

To assure the drug products’ quality, process understanding and control based on a process model is a common and important process development activity in the pharmaceutical industry. The most common of many approaches to building a process model is the Design of Experiments (DoE) and the multiple linear regression analysis. However, this conventional process modeling approach has challenges with respect to 1) the huge resources required to conduct the DoE and 2) the low prediction accuracy of the process model when multicollinearity is involved. The reason for the first challenge is because most industrial processes show high scalability and hence typically DoE runs for design space setting need to be performed at commercial scale. The second challenge is also common in the industrial process where multicollinearity exists, which cannot be described properly using multiple linear regression. In case studies 1 and 2 a computer-aided process simulation utilizing Discrete Element Method and statistics was demonstrated to address the first challenge in a blending process to reduce the process development cost by substituting actual experiments with in-silico experiments. Quantitative prediction of the blend uniformity was successfully demonstrated, opening up the possibility to reduce the number of experiments in process development. To address the second challenge alternative statistical process modeling was applied for a process involving multicollinearity in case studies 3 and 4, the tableting and coating processes. Process models were built based on partial least squares regression, which can cope with interdependent parameters by using latent variables. The response surfaces were in good agreement with the verification study results, suggesting a high prediction accuracy for a process involving multicollinearity. The process modeling approaches demonstrated in this thesis will facilitate understanding and control of the process performance with reasonable cost

Guidelines for assessing environmental and socio-economic impacts of tsetse and trypanosomiasis interventions

This report provides guidelines on methods and tools for conducting impact assessments of T&T (tsetse and trypanosomiasis) interventions on the environmental, social and economic systems and on approaches for the integrated impact assessment of the interventions. The purpose of these guidelines is help donors, development agencies, project implementers and other T&T eradication stakeholders to identify adequate options for assessing the impacts of T&T interventions based on their target level of analysis, available resources and constraints. These guidelines are therefore aimed at helping PATTEC (African Union 's Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign) project managers and their experts target their priorities in environmental and socio-economic impact assessments. This will allow them to address pertinent issues adequately for the benefit of all stakeholders and allocate their resources rationally

Development of a health safety and environment (HSE) performance review. Methodology for the oil and gas industry in Libya

The oil and gas industry in Libya has suffered a number of health and safety accidents including environmental disasters due to the nature of the work involved and the hazardous materials it handles in all facets of exploration and production. Such issues have hitherto not received due attention by the Libyan Authorities. The fact that strict HSE assessment standards are neither well-defined nor established in Libya is not helpful. Furthermore, oil and gas industry in new free Libya has suffered immensely during the 2011 Arab Spring and its rebuilding poses a number of critical HSE challenges. The purpose of the research is to develop and validate a HSE Performance Review Methodology for Libyan oil and gas industry based on clearly defined and measurable aspects for assessment. The thesis starts by performing a comprehensive literature review on all aspects of HSE including universal standards. The review indicates that there is a gap in respect of semi-qualitative methods for assessing HSE performance commensurate with other disciplines. The thesis then identifies four key research problems in the context of Libyan oil and gas industries. Based on these problems, an empirical research was conducted and included three distinct Stages. Stage 1 consisted of a pilot study based on an interview questionnaire with 15 experienced HSE professionals working in oil and gas companies in Libya to help identify key issues pertaining to HSE assessment. Data analysis results for Stage 2 have been used to derive a list of 12 main groups of HSE questions which have then been tested on 84 HSE professionals working in Libya stemming from 35 medium and large oil and gas companies. Modal distribution analyses have been performed to scope down the number of HSE performance factors, which would then be used in Stage 3 of the empirical research. This consisted of issuing the same 84 interviewees with a questionnaire requesting their assessment of how Critical, Important and Less Important were the 60 factors identified. Central Tendency, Variation Ratios and Indices of Diversity were used to successfully analyse the data. With the QAA Subject Review in mind as a potential model for the sought methodology, and a mapping of the four research problems with data analysis results from Stages 1, 2 and 3; six HSE Performance Review Aspects emerged: Prevention, Surveillance, Response, Achievements, Resource and HSE Management and Enhancement – judged and graded using a 1 to 4 scale. The HSE Performance Review methodology has been validated by direct application to five comprehensive studies starting from the self-assessment document written by the companies, an extensive review visit by peer-assessors and a final report showing grades, benchmarks and shortcomings. Lessons learned from the validation exercise have been used to revise the definition of the six Aspects and used to propose an appropriate implementation plan in Libya. The results of the validation exercise are very encouraging and readily confirm that the methodology can be applied to other industry sectors