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This research study project covers research published in the English language in the period from 1960 through 1999. A search of the current literature, utilizing automated and manual reference library capabilities at Xavier University and the United States (US) Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton, Ohio, and numerous Internet-based literature and research databases, was conducted utilizing a PMI-approved keyword search list. From the material generated by these searches, a refined annotated bibliography was developed by applying the "Project Management Research Definition" jointly developed by the Xavier/TDG Project Team and the PMI Research Conference 2000 Project Team.
Among the materials searched in the project were scholarly periodicals and journals, conference proceedings, research papers, theses, and dissertations. Research sponsored or published by the US Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other US government agencies, and the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) were also included where the material was unclassified and available to the general public. Additionally, the Xavier/TDG Project Team conducted a one-day workshop with fourteen professors and over fifty project management practitioners to assist in identifying and interpreting trends and areas for future research.
Textbooks were specifically excluded from the material reviewed. This was due to the volume of texts published and because the Xavier/TDG Project Team and the PMI Research Conference 2000 Project Team felt that most research was covered in the other literature sources. Therefore, it is felt that this research project has captured approximately 85 percent of all research material published in English since 1960 that met the project research definition. Limitations of time and financial resources prohibited further study into the subject at this time, although we propose a plan to continue and expand the study in the future. (See Recommended Follow-On Work section.)
The research team developed a list of assumptions and selection criteria during the project that relate to the selection criteria of a specific research citation. These assumptions and research citation selection criteria appear in Table 1.
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During the course of our study, the research team came across several periodicals wherein citations were very technical in nature and not within the scope of our research. Hence, such journals and similarly identified citations have been deleted directly, without review, if they satisfy any of the conditions enumerated in Table 2.
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The following three assumptions were made regarding the identification of trends.
Trends have been identified based on a sample of all citations. The words "project management" and the respective knowledge areas have been searched for in the title, keywords, and abstract fields and the resulting sample has been used to identify citations in each knowledge area.
Each researcher or workshop facilitator was given a list of thirty-six specific search criteria to provide a common starting point in trend investigation. After that, each researcher was given the liberty to identify trends in their own fashion. Therefore, no consistency in trend identification between knowledge areas can be implied.
The verification of trends is based upon the experiences of each Project Management Professional (PMP ) participant in the workshop and those of the researchers and workshop facilitators. The validity of these has been ascertained solely upon their inputs and no statistical inference can be derived from this information.
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