## 3 Research Methodology
### Survey Development and Validation  
As outlined above, the survey questions were initially developed through a comprehensive review of relevant literature to achieve the research's objectives. These questions were subsequently evaluated and refined through semi-structured interviews with five experts from the Saudi construction industry. To ensure the validity and adequacy of the research findings, a pilot survey was conducted to test the effectiveness and clarity of the \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**No.** & **Challenges** & **Symbol** \\ \hline
1 & High implementation costs & C-DT1 \\
2 & Lack of data standardization/lack of a standardized modeling approach & C-DT2 \\
3 & Lack of data management & C-DT3 \\
4 & Challenges of connectivity privacy & C-DT4 \\
5 & Increased demand for power and storage & C-DT5 \\
6 & Storage integration difficulties with existing systems & C-DT6 \\
7 & The complexity of its architecture & C-DT7 \\
8 & Lack of IT infrastructure & C-DT8 \\
9 & Quality data issues, e.g., poor and missing data & C-DT9 \\
10 & Sensitive data privacy and security & C-DT10 \\
11 & Lack of trust & C-DT11 \\
12 & Lack of positive and negative expectations of digital twins’ needs & C-DT12 \\
13 & Resistance to change to the new system & C-DT13 \\
14 & Lack of skilled professionals & C-DT14 \\
15 & Issue for Interoperability with various sensors & C-DT15 \\
16 & Lack of national guidelines/codes of practices & C-DT16 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: Challenges of using DTs. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline
**No.** & **Benefits** & **Symbol** \\ \hline
1 & AI facilitates digital twins in modeling complex real-world systems & B-DT-AI-1 \\
2 & Facilitates strategic choice-making & B-DT-AI-2 \\
3 & AI capabilities to improve analytics & B-DT-AI-3 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Benefits of integrating AI-based DTs. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**No.** & **Challenges** & **Symbol** \\ \hline
1 & Complexity of AI algorithms & C-DT-AI1 \\
2 & Data quality issues & C-DT-AI2 \\
3 & Lack of understanding of AI capabilities & C-DT-AI3 \\
4 & Ethical concerns & C-DT-AI4 \\
5 & Data privacy and security concerns & C-DT-AI5 \\
6 & Lack of Standardization of Integrated DT and AI in construction projects & C-DT-AI6 \\
7 & Lack of logistics and availability of IT infrastructure & C-DT-AI7 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 9: Challenges of integrating AI-based DTs. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline
**No.** & **Resource Implementation** & **Symbol** \\ \hline
1 & Training and education & RI-DT-AI1 \\
2 & Access to case studies and best practices & RI-DT-AI2 \\
3 & Financial incentives or subsidies & RI-DT-AI3 \\
4 & Technical support from vendors & RI-DT-AI4 \\
5 & Resolving data privacy and security concerns & RI-DT-AI5 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 10: Shows resource implementation of AI-based DTs. questionnaire. This two-step process ensured that the survey questions were aligned with the study's objectives and were clear, relevant, and comprehensive. During this phase, the experts recommended adding and modifying specific components, such as including a \"resources\" section with several recommendation strategies, as presented in Table 5. The questionnaire was structured into six sections. The first section collected demographic data from participants, while the remaining five sections focused on specific research topics using targeted questions. The questionnaire included closed-ended questions, allowing respondents to score their responses on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from \"very low\" (1) to \"very high\" (5). Participants were asked to rate the importance of each factor based on their experiences, reflecting the challenges and benefits associated with digital transformation. No additional responses were received, resulting in 106 complete responses retained for analysis. Given that the population size was unknown, an infinite population was assumed to be used to determine the sample size using Equation (1) [74].