This chapter includes a review of the research method and design appropriateness, a discussion of the population and sample, methods used in the collection of data, the approach used in the analysis of collated data, ethical consideration and limitations.
This research was carried out in three main parts. The first was aimed at identifying key background issues/studies relating to AIM. The second concentrated on the collation and assimilation of available data. Specifically, it examined information relating to the KP3 reports, review and studies on integrity management together with the data from the questionnaire and notes made from the unstructured interviews with some TAs and asset integrity managers. The final phase involved the analysis of all of the available data, draw conclusions and make recommendations based on the findings.
An overview of the process is shown below with colour codes representing the different parts.
TASK 1 Literature Review
TASK 2
Pilot interview/Brainstorming Section with AISG
TASK 4 Sort Data from Duty- Holders/Unstructured
Interviews
TASK 3
Source for Information from Duty-Holders via
Questionnaire
TASK 5
Analysis and Discussions
TASK 6 Conclusions & Recommendations
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The main focus of this research was on the UK oil and gas industry. This involves duty- holders operating in the UKCS of the North Sea. A form of sampling was introduced. As explained by Silvermann [52], the purpose of this sampling was to study a representative subsection of a precisely defined population in order to make inferences about the whole population. Within the duty holders, the participant includes Asset Integrity managers and TAs.
The above participants were chosen because of their relevance and experience to answer the research question. It was necessary to employ this form of sampling techniques because of the time and resources available to the research.
3.2 Data Collection Method 3.2.1 Pilot Interview
A pilot interview was done prior to administering of the questionnaire to inform me on the approach to take in the design of the questionnaire. As described by Punch [53] it is a small-scale trial before the main investigation with the intention of assessing the adequacy of the research design and of the instruments to be used for data collection.
The pilot interview studies was crucial to this research which was primarily based on questionnaire to gather data, since there will not be an interviewer present to clear up any confusion when the participant are trying to answer the questions.
3.2.2 Questionnaire
This phase of data collection involves generating of questions to design the questionnaire based on the findings from the pilot interview, brainstorming section done with the Asset Integrity Steering Group (AISG) of Step Change in Safety and findings from the literature review. The designed questionnaire was forwarded via an e-mail to the participating companies. This method of distribution was preferred because it was easier to reach a larger population.
Though questionnaire was seen as the best method of gathering data for this research considering the time available, it is not without its own pros and cons. The pros include, it was cheap particularly for group administered, it is far quicker to conduct, absence of interviewers effect, and at the convenient for respondent.
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Nevertheless, the cons also include, the response rate was low, the fear of given some confidential documents out and there were no one present to help the respondents if they are having difficulty answering questions. In other to mitigate some of the cons, a good covering letter explaining the reasons for the research, why it is important and why the recipient has been selected and a guarantee of confidentiality was attached to the questionnaire (see Appendix A). Furthermore, a simple questionnaire with clear instructions and an attractive layout was designed.
The questionnaire contains 22 questions in total including open and close -ended questions. It is assumed that the likelihood of response to this format considering their busy schedule is more compared to using all open-ended questions. In addition, the weakness associated with either form of question is the strength of the other.
The administration of the questionnaire to the target participants and the persistent contact of the respondent to ensure quick response to the questionnaire were made possible through the AISG of Step Change in Safety.
3.2.3 Unstructured Interview
These involved informal interviews and discussions conducted to explore or get a wider understanding on the topic being researched. There was no predetermined list of questions to work through in this situation, just knowledge of the aspect I want to explore. As mentioned earlier, the interview was purely informal. The interviewee is given the opportunity to talk freely about events, behaviour and beliefs in relation to the topic area [54].
I was able to have three different unstructured interviews, two of which were from TA working in the UK and the third was with TA in the United State of America. The information obtained from this interviews where used to explore and explain themes that have emerged from the use of the questionnaire.
3.3 Data Analysis Method
Various methods of data collection produce different types of data that requires different handling strategies. The main method of data collection for this research was the use of the questionnaire and an unstructured interview to explore on findings.
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First step involves reproducing the collated data so that they provide a fair summary of what has been studied and so that they can be analysed readily to answer the researcher’s questions.
The questionnaire as stated earlier, contains both closed and open-ended question, the first step was to code this data, i.e. transforming the data from the questionnaire into a form in which we can analyse efficiently. For the unstructured interviews, the analysis of the data was a bit challenging since there was no interview agenda. This was finally overcome by constantly visiting the note made from the discussions and ideas that form in my head. This process continued until I felt fairly confident that I had identified the set of variables that I needed and could measure, and had also identified some of the main categories of each variable. The data extracted was also coded. The themes arising from the coded data will be linked to the research objective in analysis providing a framework with which findings will be reported and discussed.
The data was analysed using EXCEL, a personal computer based analysis software. This was chosen because it is particularly useful in basic statistical analysis.
3.4 Research Ethics and Limitations 3.4.1 Research Ethics
During the period of this research, careful steps were taken to ensure that the way the research was design is both methodologically sound and morally defensible to all those who are involved. A confidentiality agreement was signed with the participant and also a cover letter detailing what the research is about, the aims and objective of the research and statements on the use of the data assuring confidentiality and anonymity of the respondents (see Appendix A).
3.4.2 Limitations
The major limitation of this work is the poor access to primary data and time. Due to the busy schedules of the target respondent, it was difficult to get them to respond to the questionnaire. Likewise, it was impossible getting approval for interview with representatives from the respondents, HSE, asset integrity managers and TAs as proposed to clarify some of my findings. This limited the number of data and the amount of respondent. To help overcome this limitation, a meeting with the members of
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the AISG was organised to brainstorm on the available data and make relevant contributions.
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