A study of virtual design and construction implementation and benefits using a bayesian approach

Abstract

Practitioners and construction management researchers lack believable and practical methods to assess the value proposition of emerging methods such as Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) including understanding how different levels of implementation affect its benefits. Furthermore, current methods of understanding VDC implementation and benefits cannot be updated easily to incorporate new data. This paper presents a Bayesian framework to predict benefits from application of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) given data about its implementation. We analyzed data from 40 projects that performed some formal modeling of the project scope and/or the construction process. The analysis suggests that more extensive or higher levels of VDC implementation lead to higher project benefits. We explain the use of a Bayesian framework as an alternative to the application of classical probability theory to construction management research, how we used it to interpret data about VDC practice and outcomes, our finding that benefits have strong positive contingent correlation with the level of VDC implemented on projects, and our suggestion to use the method to update conclusions about benefits given changing data about implementation and outcomes.