The Designer's Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design

346 Pages·2012·17.02 MB·English

by  Sally Augustin

THE
DESIGNER’S GUIDE
TO
DOING RESEARCH

T HE
DESIGNER’S GUIDE
TO
DOING RESEARCH
Applying Knowledge to Inform Design
|
SALLY AUGUSTIN CINDY COLEMAN
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress CataLoging-in-PubLiCation Data:
Augustin, Sally.
The designer’s guide to doing research : applying knowledge to Inform Design / Sally
Augustin, Cindy Coleman.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-60173-0 (cloth : alk. paper); 978-1-118-09961-2 (ebk.); 978-1-118-09962-9
(ebk.); 978-1-118-10378-4 (ebk.); 978-1-118-10379-1 (ebk.); 978-1-118-10380-7 (ebk.)
1. Architectural design—Research. I. Coleman, Cindy. II. Title. III. Title:
Applying knowledge in practice for design excellence.
NA2750.A94 2012
720.72—dc22
2011010961
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Foreword Foreword: The Necessity for Research vii Chapter 2 Researching: Context, Process, General
Acknowledgments ix Concepts 19
The Necessity for Research vii Introduction: Before You Do Design Research xi Economic Context of Design and
Research 19
Research versus Insight xiii
Design Process 22
Introduction The Research/Design Relationship xiv
Research Process 23
Why This Book? xv
“Good” Research 25
Why Research? xvii
Before You Do Design Research xi
Owning the Information 29
Design as Research xviii
Research versus Insight xi Planning and Organizing a Project-Specific
Knowing xxii
The Research/Design Relationship xii Comprehensive Research Plan 30
Thinking and Knowing xxvi
Why This Book? xiii Overview of Types of Research 32
A Scientific Method xxix
Why Research? xv Differences in Types of Research:
Asking the Right Questions xxx
Design as Research xvi Applied or Theoretical 33
Knowing xx Comparing Research Tools 34
Chapter 1 Design Research and Its Influence on the
Thinking and Knowing xxiv Merits of Using Several Different Research
Practice of Design 1
A Scientific Method xxvii Tools to Answer Any Research
Generalizing Design Thinking 1 Question 40
Asking the Right Questions xxviii
Design Research as a Means for Core Concepts 40
Attraction and Retention 3 Endnotes 42
Chapter 1
Design Research as a Means for Social
Reform 3
Chapter 3 What to Learn 43
Design Research and Its Influence on the Practice of Design 1 Design Research as a Response to
Informing Design-Related Change 43
Generalizing Design Thinking 1 the Need for Design Speed 3
Design-Project-Based Information
Design Research as a Means for Attraction and Retention Design Research to Build a Sustainable
Gathering 46
Design Research as a Means for Social Reform 3 Knowledge Base 4
Social-Science-Based Information
Design Research as a Response to the Need for Design Research to Gain Understanding of
Needs 51
Cultural Distinctions 5
Design Research to Build a Sustainable Knowledge Base
Core Concepts 77
Design Research as a Source of Value 6
Endnotes 78
Core Concepts 6
Design Research as a Source of Value 6
Endnotes 7
Core Concepts 6
Chapter 4 The Goals of Project Initiation 81
A Story of Practice: Making the Implicit
A Story of Practice: Making the Implicit Explicit 8 Research for Competitive Advantage 81
Explicit 8
Secondary Information 84
Chapter 2
v
Peer-Reviewed Studies 87 Observation 199
Literature Reviews 88 Space Syntax 217
Within-Firm Archival Research 100 Social Network Analysis 218
Experience Sampling Method 100 Discussion Groups 218
Design Charettes 109 Space Simulation 228
Endnotes 113 Experiments 232
A Story of Practice: A Research-Based A Story of Practice: Schematic
Marketing Strategy 114 Design 236
A Story of Practice: Design
Chapter 5 The Goals of Investigation 125 Development 244
Research as a Process of Discovering a Endnotes 266
Client’s Needs 125
Interviews 127 Chapter 7 The Goals of Implementation 255
Cognitive Mapping 142
How Research Informs the Post-Occupancy
Repertory Grid 144
Evaluation (POE) 255
Annotated Plans 147
Post-Occupancy Evaluations 257
Content Analysis—Verbal
Case Studies 262
Material 148
Content Analysis—Visual 152 A Story of Practice: Post-Occupancy
Evaluation 267
Surveys 156
Endnotes 290
Public Parks Survey 173
Endnotes 176 Chapter 8 How to Maintain and Access
Research Findings 283
A Story of Practice: It Starts with
Programming 177 Raw Resources 285
Organizational System 287
Additional Considerations 288
Chapter 6 The Goals of Integration in
Schematic Design 189 Core Concepts 289
Endnote 292
How Research Informs the Schematic
Design Process 189
Research Shapes Refining the Design Conclusion: Doing Design Research 291
Strategy 191
Additional Sources of Information for
Geographic Information Systems
Design Researchers 293
(GIS) 193
Behavior Mapping 196 Index 295
vi
FOREWORD
The Necessity for Research
THE HALLMARK OF A VITAL PROFESSION is its body of knowledge. In
law, it’s clearly defined as precedent, found in the great tomes and used, daily,
by attorneys. In science, practitioners admit freely that they “stand on the
shoulders of giants.” Those employed in the many subsets of the physical and
behavioral sciences build their work on the findings of those who came before
them, those who work next to them, and those who toil, simultaneously, in
competing institutions. Although much of this body of knowledge is gleaned in
the course of everyday practice, such opportunistic research is not enough to
keep the professions at their cutting edge. It is the deep dives and the intense
focus on confounding problems that lift each profession to its highest level
of performance and increase the value of its contributions to the growth of
human intelligence and betterment of the human condition.
In an age of climate change, global materials shortages, aging popula-
tions, technological sophistication, and a worldwide web of connections
between people and ideas, the design professions—those best equipped
to shape the built environment—are searching for ways to fine-tune their
responses to these complex issues. The well-being of humanity and the Earth
that supports all living things is at stake. This is a big assignment; it requires
a collaborative approach to problem solving. This complex problem solving
needs many different professionals, each at the top of his or her game, to bring
their unique skills and extensive knowledge to the table.
Clearly, architects and interior designers, whose work comes in close con-
tact with our bodily and emotional needs, are essential participants in this
growing and evolving public dialogue. They stand to make significant contri-
butions to human well-being everywhere, to every culture and every economic
group, not simply to well-funded institutions, multinational corporations, and
wealthy home owners. The prospect of this new clientele predicts a broaden-
ing of the designer’s work options, even as it calls for a new understanding
of this uniquely varied population. At the same time, the profession’s fine-
grained sensibilities, once defined by such skills as choosing colors, textures,
and styles, as well as devising spatial adjacencies and lighting schemes—
those things that continue to humanize our most intimate surroundings—need
to be refined, expanded, and redefined.
Material toxicities, energy performances, and emotional connectivity are
only a few challenges faced by architects and interior designers today. How
vii
should they dive into these topics while carrying on the duties of a midstream
career? How can they understand problems that were, by and large, previously
ignored by the professions? What tools are needed to bring today’s spatial
designers up to the high level of performance expected of them? Research is a
good place to start.
Research can become the solid cornerstone of the profession. The pro-
cesses and approaches defined in this book are a strong beginning. But, like
any worthwhile beginning, this moment, defined so skillfully by the authors,
must grow and evolve if the profession and the world at large are to reap its full
benefits.
Starting with the familiar, on-the-job research, a habit of relentless
inquiry needs to be learned. Its clearly defined goal is to build a solid body of
knowledge, a foundation on which future research will be based. This kind of
information collection and analysis will be at its most powerful when the pro-
fessions, as a whole, share their findings through publications and educational
programs with ever-growing audiences. At the same time, practical knowl-
edge accrued within firms must be shared freely, through available tech-
nologies and the many ways we are learning to use face time. Added to this
effort, the professions must engage relevant specialists such as biologists and
behavioral scientists in original research on human interaction with the inte-
rior environment and how our interiors connect to nature and the surrounding
built environment. We intuitively know that it’s all connected, that it’s all part
of a great system. The research will prove the hypothesis.
So, start here and start now. It’s the beginning of a wonderful, produc-
tive journey in laying a solid foundation for the twenty-first-century design
practice. That foundation will make your work indispensable. Your embed-
ded knowledge will make you a valued member of any team. And your con-
tribution to the body of human knowledge will be noted, celebrated, and
appreciated by those who are fortunate enough to occupy the spaces you’ll be
designing.
— SuSan S. SzenaSy
Editor in Chief, Metropolis magazine
viii The Necessity for Research