Protecting Civilian in Large Commercial Complex - Marina Mall Emergency and Evacuation Procedures - Thesis Proposal Example

Note: This paper is almost complete and it only needs a single page more and the reference list. Please review and send me your feedback so I can finalize everything. Thanks! DISSERTATION PROPOSAL 1. Proposed Title Protecting Civilian in Large Commercial Complex: The Marina Mall Emergency Plan and Evacuation Procedures 2. Statement of the Problem In the world of uncertainties and unexpected incidents, establishing a specific emergency plan for a facility such as a large shopping mall or commercial complex is essential. The emergency plan generally includes evacuation procedures and areas of complete safety. However, an evacuation procedure is worthless when it is not clearly defined, well understood by the people that would be involve, and not being practice regularly. For instance, a lot of organisation have been conducting risk assessment and successful in identifying and removing risk but do not have a clear and well-established plan on how they are going to save people during an emergency. Evacuation is as important as removing or reducing the risk and therefore must given the same attention by building management. For this reason, this study would attempt to research on existing evacuation procedures of large commercial complex like the Marina Mall which at times of emergency should be prepared to evacuate a considerably large number of people. 3. Aim of this Research The aim of this research is to provide an overview of the importance of protecting civilians in large commercial complex particularly in terms of emergency plan and evacuation. The research would attempt to examine the relevance of existing disaster and civil protection strategy of a large shopping mall and develop an enhance strategy that could further increase safety of the public. 4. Benefit of this Research The research would benefit a large number of people particularly those that are doing their shopping in large complex such as a mall. Civil protection and safety of the public is critical and therefore must be given more focus in the daily operation of the building. In large complex, emergency evacuation may not be as easy as those with small establishment since aside from significant number of people that may be present in a mall during business hours, the different behaviours of people, the presence of disabled persons, and their varying perception of threat may affect the outcome of existing emergency procedures. Since this research intends to cover the various aspects of emergency planning and evacuation that is critically required in shopping malls, it could come up with a novel strategy that could enhance existing civil protection strategies that is now being use in malls all over the globe. 5. Research Questions These research questions are specifically designed help the research get the information it requires in connection with the problem statement in the earlier section. a. How important is emergency planning and evacuation procedures in shopping malls? b. What are the qualities of a good emergency plan? c. What are the benefits of a well-planned evacuation? d. Is the mall in our study already established an emergency plan? e. What is their evacuation procedure? Is it in placed and regularly practiced? f. Did the plan take into account all factors that can affect the safety of evacuees? g. What is missing in the emergency plan? How it can be resolve? h. What can be recommended? i. How it will be monitored and reviewed? 6. Data Collection Methods In most situations, selection of data collection method requires a good understanding of the nature of the research. Moreover, it should also take into consideration the possibility of access to the information required, willingness of the study participants, and ethics that should be observed (Maxwell 2005, p.91). In addition, a mixed method of data collection is not necessarily superior to a single method because it requires two or more methods that have the same or agreeable characteristics. It other words, if there is conflict between these individual methods, mixed method is not the best alternative (Axinn & Pearce 2006, p.11). A qualitative method of research mostly depends on the strengths and limitations of different qualitative data collection such interviews, surveys, pre-defined questionnaires, and evaluation (Maxwell 2005, p.92). Data collection through observation and interviews provide an opportunity for the researcher to generate a kind of information that can make qualitative studies make its mark and be considered valuable and credible. Moreover, it provides the researcher more control over the way in which data will be produced. However, qualitative data collection is subject to bias and if done incorrectly or without proper planning, a qualitative study may be questioned (Padget 1998, p.68). For instance, it is commonly viewed that researcher influences the individual being studied in the same way the participant influence the researcher. According to Burns & Grove (2003, p.375), the mere presence of researcher alters the behaviour of participants and this is considered a bias. Moreover, conducting an interview requires skill and a novice interviewer may not be that sensitive to detect cues and when and how to stop interviewing or require clarification of the research participants. The personality of the researcher itself is another factor since the researcher must be intimately involved in the interviewees experience in order to understand and interpret it. For instance, the researcher must be familiar with the culture and perceptions of the participants rather than interpreting their experiences based on his own upbringing or cultural beliefs. The way in which an interview will be conducted is therefore vital to the success of the research and in making data analysis less difficult. For researchers that do not have sufficient skill for interview, written open-ended questions may be a better alternative since it can also provide qualitative information. Similar to quantitative-based surveys, answers to open-ended questionnaires are produced by the respondents rather than the researcher thus responses are of qualitative in nature. However, one of the main issue with open-ended questions is the ability of the respondents to write legibly since this can affect the interpretation of answers during the analysis (Issel 2008, p.475). In most qualitative study, a combination of interview, observation, and videotaping is being use by researchers to generate a more holistic and clear understanding of the phenomenon in question. However, it must be noted that combining methods are not necessarily superior as mentioned earlier. A researcher therefore must examine the advantages or disadvantages of each method he or she would employ. Moreover, the combination must complement each other so they can overcome the inherent weaknesses of each other. For instance, a researcher may use observation to complement an interview since it’s a good technique in generating qualitative data. However, observations are known to be weak in determined reasons behind the actions. Similarly, an interview is good in determining reasons but it cannot generate qualitative data. Combining these two therefore can provide researchers an opportunity to see behaviour in action while getting the participants reasons behind their behaviour (Speziale & Carpenter 2007, p.386). Since this study is after the present status of an organisations fire safety management strategy particularly the ways in which their evacuation procedure is being planned and exercised, a combined qualitative data collection may be appropriate to generate the data required. For instance, the management can be ask to provide answers to an interview to determined the reasons why they consider the present evacuation procedure sufficient while observing the operation and environment to generate qualitative data from a naturally occurring situations that can be use to confirm their assumptions. Choosing a qualitative data collection technique may benefit this research since participants in this type of data collection are considered colleagues rather than research subjects. This means data collection would be a little informal and the answers would be as natural as possible. According to Burns & Grove (2003, p.375), to succeed in a qualitative research, the researcher must have the support and confidence of the interviewees thus having this kind of relax relationship can help the research produce better and credible results. Moreover, a well-collected qualitative data yields naturally occurring phenomenon or an ordinary event in their natural setting representing real life situation (Miles & Huberman 1994, p.10). This study therefore convinced and confident that a qualitative data collection through interviews and observation would yield the data that is required in the subject area of civil protection and emergency management. This is because civilian protection are for people and qualitative method of research is for social issues and real life situations. 7. Method of Data Analysis Most qualitative data can be interpreted in different ways. The first approach is interpreting the data from ‘factist’ perspective where the research attempts to get closer to reality as much as possible. For instance, a researcher may do the interpretation through careful examination of the validity or truthfulness of the participant’s statements. The second way is to analyse and interpret the information from a narrative perspective where the argument and bodily action of the individual are more important than the reliability and sincerity of the answers. Researchers using this interpretation often seek for patterns from respondent’s statements and actions. Thirdly, researchers can use an approach based on rhetorical perspective where the interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee becomes the object of interpretation (Piekkari & Welch 2004, p.471). Since the method of data collection is qualitative in nature, it is therefore logical to adopt a qualitative method of data analysis where interview transcript, notes from observations, documents that were submitted by the participants will be examined and analysed. Qualitative analysis involves simultaneous flows activity such as data reduction, display, and conclusion. Data reduction can be done by choosing, simplifying, abstracting, and transforming data that is gathered through interviews and observations. This technique is a useful when making comparisons but care must be taken in making distinction between objects and events (Dey 1993, p.101). Reduction of qualitative data can help researcher focus and organised data while discarding those clearly redundant so that he can draw a well-verified conclusion. The data display on the other hand is the simplification of enormous data to a form that can be easily understood. For instance, data display of reduced data from the data reduction technique earlier can be represented by a graph, matrix, charts, and other form data representation. Data display is a compact form of the same information from data reduction which an analyst can easily view and understand instantly Conclusion drawing and verification on the other hand involves noting regularities, patterns, explanations, possible configurations, causal flows, and propositions (Miles & Huberman 1994, p.12). Although most researchers do not take these conclusions as final until all data collected are verified, they are often pre-figured and can be use as final analysis result for this study. 8. Research Limitations The limitations of the research may come from both technical and conceptual factors surrounding the chosen research method. For instance, the research may encounter some unresponsive participants that do not want to complete the questionnaire or to answer all the interview questions. Another is the fact that not all may give reliable information that may cause confusion during the data analysis. This study acknowledges that there are factors that may affect the study outcome such as compromises that is necessary for practical and ethical reasons. Another is the labour extensiveness of this type of research that may cost the researcher more time and energy than any other form research. This is because interviewing and conducting observation requires direct contact with participants and data analysis requires intensive work. In time, there may be occasions that the researcher may feel overwhelmed by the volume data and may be unable to identify the much needed pattern and themes quickly. These and others may affect and weakens the design, the methods of data collection, and the data analysis that have been chosen. However, this study is confident that with preparation, careful planning, dedication, and hard work, these limitations can be overcome. 9. Timeline of the Research (Tentative Time) Note: These are tentative timing based on weeks. Work/Activities Week 1-12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Proposal Preparation Literature Review Interview/Observations Dissertation Writing Finalization & Submission 10. Project Risk Assessment A project risk assessment commonly identifies risk not only to avoid oversight but also to avoid pitfalls that can affect the project significantly (National Research Council 2005, p.24). In this research, some of the risk may be identified through risk screening based on impact and probability as shown below. Legend: A- Mall management reluctant to participate B- Employees reluctant to participate C- Shopper reluctant to participate D- Questions not completely answered E- Time and Ethical Constraints F- Flaw in data analysis 11. Reference List Read More