## 3 Materials and Methods
### Data Collection  
The main case study is that of a large healthcare facility in Canada, hereinafter referred to as project A. A multifaceted approach was adopted that included several data collection and analytical steps. The data for this research were collected between 2019 and 2021 during which time the principal investigator worked in collaboration with the design firm and later with the owners as part of two research collaborations. During this time, data were collected using mixed methods, including document analysis, meeting observations, semi-structured interviews, and an in-depth survey (Table 4). The document analysis was conducted using the native BIM files, BIM compliance documents, contract agreements, project requirements, and the documents produced as part of the asset data collection. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Project** & **A** & **B** & **C** \\ \hline Building type & Hospital & Hospital & Residential \\ \hline Location & BC, Canada & BC, Canada & BC, Canada \\ \hline Owner type & Public sector & Public sector & Public sector \\ \hline Budget & \$258.9 million & \$807.0 million & \$30.0 million \\ \hline Estimated completion & Summer 2020 & Early 2025 & Late 2023 \\ \hline Delivery method & Design-Build & Design-Build & Construction Manager \\ \hline Area & Approximately & (Information currently unavailable) & Approximately 7735 square meters in gross floor area \\ \hline BIM requirements & BIM required for FM & BIM required for FM & BIM required for FM \\ \hline Data collection & Interviews, survey, document analysis (including models), meeting observation & Interviews, document analysis (including models) & Interviews, survey, document analysis (including models), meeting observation \\ \hline Project phases covered & Planning, design, construction, & Planning, design, and beginning of construction & Planning and design \\ in data collection & and handover & & \\ \hline Picture & & & \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: General information about the projects used as data sources. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews of approximately one hour each were conducted with industry experts from different organizations involved in project A. The interviews were recorded and analyzed using the categories that emerged from the document analysis. Open-ended questions were used in the interview to encourage respondents to provide a more detailed response and to build rapport between the respondent and the interviewer [76]. Questions about the BIM process for FM were asked covering challenges, familiarity with the BIM requirements, perceptions of value, and quality of the information in the models. Each interview also had a different set of bespoke questions focused on specific aspects of the asset information delivery process pertinent to the interviewe's area of expertise. The questions were aimed at (1) filling the gaps of information not captured during document analysis and meeting observations, (2) addressing new emerging questions from previously collected data, and (3) capturing individual perceptions of benefits and challenges. The data collected from the interviews and questionnaires were analyzed through an iterative coding process [77], in which themes emerged, were refined, and tested as part of a grounded theory approach [78]. For the number of respondents required to achieve data saturation, depending on the nature of the study, Ref. [79] recommended 15 \(\pm\) 10 respondents because of the typical time and resources constraints. Similar to other studies within the construction industry, the quality of experts (i.e., having the required qualifications in the field under study) is preferred over quantity [80]. A total of 15 local experts in BC were interviewed, being all directly involved with project A. Sample size was based on a judgment, in coding and analyzing, of theoretical saturation of categories, which implies that \"no new properties emerge and the same properties continually emerge\" [81] and that gaps in major categories were more or less filled [82].