A Research Framework for Work Sampling and its Application in Developing Comparative Direct and Support Activity Proportions for Different Trades

摘要

Work sampling has been used to indirectly measure crew productivity. Although favoured for being less costly, easy to adopt, and able to provide quick information, previous work sampling studies have not gone beyond identifying the direct, support, and delay proportions of activities to provide a reasonable estimation of productivity. Research into identifying a relationship between work sampling results and productivity has been limited, and an approach to identify the most productive proportion of direct and support activities for different trades has not been developed. This paper proposes a research framework for crew-based work sampling, supplemented by foreman delay surveys and craftsman questionnaires, to establish a relationship between work sampling and productivity, and to identify the effective proportions of direct and support activities for different trades. The paper describes the development of this framework and illustrates the analysis involved by using case study data. Ultimately, this framework will be used to develop a crew-level productivity analysis model, based on subjective and objective factor modeling, supplemented by work study methods, including work sampling.