4.1 Statistical investigation (quantitative findings)
4.1.4 Conflict management
This construct consists of 1 variable shown in Table 9. The construct regardless of phases includes 142 projects in the CII1010 database. The distribution of the data is normal based on the skewness and kurtosis measures Table 13 and based on the
distribution shape Figure 20. The distribution is considered normal although its skewness is high because the sample size is large enough. The internal consistency/reliability measure cannot be defined for this construct because it comprises only 1 variable.
Ranks
Communication Planning 54 48.82 2636.50 Execution 56 61.94 3468.50
Total 110
Test Statistics
Quality of Communication
Mann-Whitney U 1151.500
Z -2.156
Sig. (2-tailed) .031
a. Grouping Variable: Project phase
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Descriptives regarding conflict management construct is shown in Table 52 below.
TABLE 52DESCRIPTIVES OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCT
Descriptive Statistics
N Range Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Variance Conflict Management 142 3.50 1.50 5.00 3.6484 .67370 .454 Valid N (listwise) 142
As an assumption to t-test, normality of the construct is investigated in all phases in Table 12. According to the table, the data in conceptualization phase of conflict
management construct is not normally distributed. Therefore, in addition to the t-test, a nonparametric test such as Mann-Whitney U test is essential. Planning and execution phases are normal though.
Figure 21, Figure 22, and Figure 23 depict distribution of the data regarding conflict management construct in different phases. The skewness and kurtosis of the
conceptualization phase is high. It can negatively affect the precision of the results of t-test because the sample size is small (29). Thus, conceptualization phase is considered non-normal. Consequently, the result of Mann-Whitney U test would be preferred over t-test result if the results did not match.
Descriptives of conflict management construct in different phases are available in Table 53 including sample size, mean, standard deviation, and standard error mean.
TABLE 53DESCRIPTIVES OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCT IN DIFFERENT PHASES
Group Statistics
Project phase N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Conflict
Management
Conceptualization 29 3.5534 .71000 .13184
Planning 54 3.6033 .63834 .08687
Execution 56 3.7377 .70482 .09419
FIGURE 20DISTRIBUTION HISTOGRAM OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCT REGARDLESS OF DIFFERENT PHASES
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FIGURE 21DISTRIBUTION HISTOGRAM OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCT IN CONCEPTUALIZATION PHASE
FIGURE 22DISTRIBUTION HISTOGRAM OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCT IN PLANNING PHASE
FIGURE 23DISTRIBUTION HISTOGRAM OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCT IN EXECUTION PHASE
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The results of independent-samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test are presented in 3 categories as follows.
4.1.4.1 Conceptualization and planning
Descriptives of the 2 phases are shown in Table 53 including sample size, mean, standard deviation, and standard error mean.
Table 54 presents the results of independent-samples t-test (the parametric test) which also comprises the results of Levene's Test for Equality of Variances. According to the table, the variances of the phases is approximately equal and there is no significant difference in conflict management between conceptualization and planning phases of the projects because the significance level is greater than 0.05.
The results of Mann-Whitney U test (the nonparametric test) together with its descriptives are presented in Table 55 and Table 56. Based on Table 56, there is no significant difference in conflict management between conceptualization and planning phases of the projects because the significance level is greater than 0.05.
TABLE 54THE RESULTS OF INDEPENDENT-SAMPLES T-TEST FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN CONCEPTUALIZATION
-PLANNING PHASE COMPARISON
Independent Samples Test Levene's
Test for Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df CONCEPTUALIZATION-PLANNING PHASE
COMPARISON
TABLE 56THE RESULTS OF MANN-WHITNEY U TEST FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN
CONCEPTUALIZATION-PLANNING
Conceptualization 29 42.07 1220.0 Planning 54 41.96 2266.0
Total 83
Test Statistics
Conflict Management
Mann-Whitney U 781.000
Z -.019
Sig. (2-tailed) .985
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4.1.4.2 Conceptualization and execution
Descriptives of the 2 phases are shown in Table 53 including sample size, mean, standard deviation, and standard error mean.
Table 57 presents the results of independent-samples t-test that also comprises the results of Levene's Test for Equality of Variances. According to the table, the variances of the phases is approximately equal and there is no significant difference in conflict management between conceptualization and execution phases of the projects because the significance level is greater than 0.05.
Since the conceptualization phase is considered to be not normal, Mann-Whitney U test is necessary for the comparison of the 2 phases. The results of Mann-Whitney U test together with its descriptives are presented in Table 58 and Table 59. Based on Table 59, there is no significant difference in conflict management between
conceptualization and execution phases of the projects because the significance level is greater than 0.05.
TABLE 57THE RESULTS OF INDEPENDENT-SAMPLES T-TEST FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN CONCEPTUALIZATION
-EXECUTION PHASE COMPARISON
Independent Samples Test Levene's
Test for Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df IN CONCEPTUALIZATION-EXECUTION PHASE COMPARISON
TABLE 59THE RESULTS OF MANN-WHITNEY U TEST FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN CONCEPTUALIZATION-
EXECUTION PHASE COMPARISON
Conceptualization 29 38.97 1130.00 Execution 56 45.09 2525.00
Total 85
Test Statistics
Conflict Management
Mann-Whitney U 695.000
Z -1.085
Sig. (2-tailed) .278
a. Grouping Variable: Project phase
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4.1.4.3 Planning and execution
Descriptives of the 2 phases are presented in Table 53 including sample size, mean, standard deviation, and standard error mean.
Table 60 presents the results of independent-samples t-test which also comprises the results of Levene's Test for Equality of Variances. According to the table, the variances of the phases is approximately equal and there is no significant difference in conflict management between planning and execution phases of the projects because the significance level is greater than 0.05.
The results of Mann-Whitney U test together with its descriptives are presented in Table 61 and Table 62. Based on Table 62, there is no significant difference in conflict management between planning and execution phases of the projects because the
significance level is greater than 0.05.
TABLE 60THE RESULTS OF INDEPENDENT-SAMPLES T-TEST FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN PLANNING-EXECUTION PHASE COMPARISON
Independent Samples Test Levene's
Test for Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN
PLANNING-EXECUTION PHASE COMPARISON