A roadmap for higher research quality in humanitarian operations: A methodological perspective

Given the substantial costs of natural and man-made disasters (i.e., mortality, morbidity, and financial losses), scholars in operations management and operations research have conducted extensive research in the last decade in a humanitarian setting. A total of 43 studies that reviewed papers on disaster management and humanitarian operation and pointed out the research gaps in this field of study were published from 2006 to 2018. To enhance the rigor and relevance of future studies, this paper focuses on the methodological aspect of studies on humanitarian operations. The study highlights a set of vital items that should be considered when conducting research in a humanitarian setting: including the problem structuring, understanding the contextual factors in a humanitarian setting, acknowledging the uncertainties in humanitarian operations, incorporating uncertainty in the model, enabling technologies in model development and implementation, and selecting appropriate data and research methods. In addition, this study suggests a meta-process for research on humanitarian operations to target a higher level of research quality in this setting. The implications of the study for authors and reviewers of manuscripts and research proposals are discussed in the last section of the paper.