Faculty of Engineering and Technology Department of Architectural Engineering ARC 323 : Human Studies in Architecture Fall 2018 Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Final Term Revision
Part 1
We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. Winston Churchill, addressing the English Architectural Association, 1924
Natural Environment
Human Environment
Human Experience
Virtual Environment
Built Environment
Applied behavioral research Data gathering and social research tools
Research
Architecture within the framework of human sciences
Sampling
Human theories and society formation
Behavior and the built environment Environment relationship
Behavior
Humanities
Perception Human needs in relation to social contexts
Humanities in contemporary architecture
Behavior and culture
Architecture and Human Sciences • Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Psychology Sociology Anthropology Geography Archaeology History Linguistics and languages Law and politics Literature Philosophy Religion Performing arts Visual arts …
Architecture and Human Sciences Environment Space and Place
Geography Anthropology
Sociology Psychology
ARCH
Definition of Research
• A systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories or applications.
Research
New Knowledge
Research
New Knowledge
Current Knowledge
Design
New Knowledge
Research
The Research Cycle
10
Research Steps 1 Select Topic 2 Review Literature 3 Devise Conceptual Framework 4 Decide Research Questions 5 List Information Needs 6 Decide Research Strategy 7 Conduct Research 8 Report Findings
1. Select a topic Personal Interest The literature Policy or management problem Social Concern Popular Media
2. Literature Review • Entire basis of the research • Source of ideas • Information on research already done by others • Source of Methods or theory ideas • Basis of comparison • Topic/problem statement guides this review • The review leads to further problem statement clarification
3. Devise Conceptual Framework Framework involves concepts Concepts are general representations of the phenomena to be studied Framework indicates how the researcher views the relationships between elements involved
4. Decide on Research Questions • 1. Find out what is already known about the subject through doing a literature review. • 2. After you know what is already known, your question might need to be reformulated so that you have a question in need of an answer, rather than a question that has already been answered.
5. List of Information Needs • Guided by the Problem Statement and secondary questions and conceptual framework.
6. Decide on research Strategy • Information gathering techniques • Data Analysis techniques • Budget • Timetable
7. Conduct Research • Pilot study – Use to test and adjust data collection tools • Data collection – Collect required data • Data analysis – Analyse collected data
8. Report Findings • Through - tables, figures, GIS, graphics, and text discussion/oral presentations
Literature Review (LR) Knowledge we already possess → New information
– A survey of various sources to produce knowledge that is more lasting and has more widespread usefulness. – A very important part of the research process – Not only at the beginning of the process but throughout it.
Annotated Bibliography vs LR • Annotated Bibliography: – Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s literature – Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive paragraph.
3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR • Annotated Bibliography: – Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s literature – Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive paragraph: Goals, Theoretical stance, Relevance for the investigation.
Annotated Bibliography vs LR • Literature Review: – Introductory statement – Summary of the lines of existing research (grouped) – Observations on the state of literature: Expand – Covered – Arguments - …
Uses of LR 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
To identify the research question To develop a research question To focus the topic of inquiry To understand the research question To understand an idea’s generic roots To understand the current conceptual landscape
Where to go: Resources 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Internet Library Archives Organizations Agencies Media
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Research Strategies • Research Approaches – Diagnostic – Descriptive – Theoretical – Action • Research Designs – Case study – Survey – Experiment • Research Settings – Natural – Contrived
Research Strategies Diagnostic Descriptive Theoretical Action
Approaches
Case study Survey Experiment
Designs
Settings
Natural Contrived
Research Approaches Diagnostic Studies • help you deepen your understanding of a setting. • offer insight into the structure and dynamics of a whole situation.
Research Approaches Descriptive Studies • describe and measure as precisely as possible one or more characteristics and their relations in a defined group. • Developing clear concepts and translating these into something that can be counted as a manifestation of the concept
Research Approaches Theoretical Studies • set specific hypotheses suggested by experiences elsewhere or primarily derived from more comprehensive theory. • increase general insights and focus more on the conceptual framework of a problem
Research Approaches Action research Studies • changes are made and analyzed that have direct and lasting consequences on people beyond those in the research project. • may occur naturally or may be created analytically by careful sampling.
Research Strategies Diagnostic Descriptive Theoretical Action
Approaches
Case study Survey Experiment
Designs
Settings
Natural Contrived
Research Design Case Study • to develop intensive knowledge about one complex object. • to describe and diagnose single, internally complex objects: individuals, buildings, episodes, institutions, processes, societies. • information specific to the particular study object and context
Research Design Survey • to find out in detail about a phenomenon • study large populations • easy to quantify • less time-consuming to analyze • email questionnaires, observing physical traces, observing behavior, and interviews.
Research Design Experimental • to measure the effects that an action has in a particular situation. • to focus observation on a small number of attributes at one time • control, – Control group and Experiment group – Before and After the action
Research Design Experimental - Parametric Study • the systematic manipulation of one variable (Independent), and making measurements on another variable (Dependent), while keeping all other conditions constant
Research Design Experimental - Multivariant Study • many physical and personal factors are present.
Research Settings Natural Settings • to observe people in settings they choose to come to • appropriate for diagnostic studies in which investigators want to find out what is actually going on what elements, relationships, and dynamics are salient. • can also carry out an experiment, by manipulating a part of a physical environment, a particular social behavior, or a policy.
Research Settings Contrived Settings • planned and controlled research environments in which to observe people and gather data from them. • experimental laboratory, in which investigators control the setting, choose participants randomly, effect controlled changes, and measure some attribute of the subjects after those changes.
Research Evaluation Validity • whether the property being measured is what should be measured - i.e., are we measuring the right thing?
Research Evaluation Reliability • whether other researchers performing similar studies obtain equivalent results.
Research Methods 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Observing Physical Traces Observing Environmental Behavior Focused Interviews Standardized Questionnaires Games
Research Methods: Observing Physical Traces
• Systematically looking at physical surroundings to find reflections of previous activity not produced in order to be measured by researchers. – unconsciously left behind – conscious changes
Research Methods: Observing Physical Traces
• Qualities of the Method 1. Unobtrusive 2. Durable 3. Easy
Research Methods: Observing Physical Traces
• Recording Devices 1. 2. 3. 4.
Annotated Diagrams Drawings Photographs Counting
Research Methods: Observing Physical Traces • What to look for? – By-products of use • Erosions • Leftovers • Missing Traces – Adaptation for Use • Props • Separations • Connections
Research Methods: Observing Physical Traces • What to look for? – Displays of Self • Personalization • Identification • Group Membership – Public Messages • Official • Unofficial • Illegitimate
Research Methods: Observing Environmental Behavior
• Systematically watching people use their environments: individuals, pairs of people, small groups, and large groups.
Research Methods: Observing Environmental Behavior
• What to Observe? – Elements of Observation • Who is
Actor
• Doing what
Act
• With whom?
Significant Other
• In what relationship,
Relationships (aural, visual, tactile, olfactory, symbolic)
• In what context,
Sociocultural Context (situation, culture)
• Where?
Physical Setting (props, spatial relations)
Research Methods: Observing Environmental Behavior • Generates data about: – people's activities and the relationships needed to sustain them; about – regularities of behavior; about – expected uses, new uses, and misuses of a place; and about
– behavioral opportunities and constraints that environments provide.
Research Methods: Observing Environmental Behavior
• Qualities of the Method • Empathetic • Direct
• Dynamic • Reflective • Variable Intrusive • Observers’ Vantage Points • • • •
Secret Outsider Recognized Outsider Marginal Participant Full Participant
Research Methods: Observing Environmental Behavior
• Recording Devices • Notation • Precoded Checklists
• Maps • Photographs • Videotapes and Movies
Research Methods: Focused Interviews
• Posing questions systematically to find out what people think, feel, do, know, believe, and expect.
Research Methods: Focused Interviews
• Focused Interviews can be used with individuals or groups to find out in depth: 1. How people define a concrete situation? 2. What they consider important about it? 3. What effects they intended their actions to have in the situation? 4. How they feel about it?
Research Methods: Focused Interviews
• The Interview Guide • A loose set of topics, questions, elements, patterns, and relationships that the interviewer tentatively intends to cover.
Research Methods: Focused Interviews
• Objectives of Focused Interviews: – Definition of the Situation – Strength of Respondents’ Feelings – Intentions
Research Methods: Focused Interviews
Focused Interviews Probes Probes are primarily questions that
interviewers interpose to get a respondent to clarify a point, to explain further what he
meant, to continue talking, or to shift the topic.
Research Methods: Focused Interviews Probes
• The Leader Effect – Appeal for equal time – Attention to body language – Asking for a vote
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire
• To discover regularities among groups of people by comparing answers to the same set of questions asked of a large number of people. • Analysis of questionnaire responses can provide precise numbers to measure variables, e.g. degrees, percentages, .etc.
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire
• Qualities of the Method – Findings in a short time.
– Convincing using Quantitative data – Control of the investigation
– Intrusiveness
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire
• Precoding Responses –Open ended questions (free-responses) are time consuming and costly to analyze. –Precoding is to partition possible response alternatives into a set of categories for respondents to choose from.
• Nominal (Yes and No, Gender, Religion) • Ordinal (information, age) • Attitudes (opinion, meaning) • Rank-ordering of Items
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire
Ordinal - Information
Attitudes
Meaning
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire Rank-ordering of Items
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire
• Visual Responses • Freehand Maps (Kevin Lynch) • Additions to Base Maps (Zeisel and Griffin) • Drawings (Sanoff and Barbour) • Photographs
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire Freehand maps
Drawings
Research Methods: Standardized Questionnaire Additions to Base Maps
Research Methods: Games
• Through which respondents express themselves by making a series of linked choice. – Wilson’s “Neighborhood Game”.
Part 2
Select Participants Specify a Population and Sample • A population is a group of individuals that comprise the same characteristics
Select Participants Specify a Population and Sample • A sample is a sub-group of the target population that the researcher plans to study for the purpose about making generalizations about the target population.
Sampling • Aim of sampling is to equate unknown characteristics that may influence variation and to preserve the representativeness of the sample
Populations and Samples Target Population Sample Population -All teachers in high schools in one city -College students in all community colleges -Adult educators n all schools of education
Sample Sample
-All high school biology teachers -Students in one community college -Adult educators in 5 schools of education in the Midwest
Two Classes of Sampling Techniques: 1. Non-probability Sampling 2. Probability Sampling
Select Participants: Use Probability and NonProbability Sampling
• Probability sampling is the selection of individuals from the population so that they are representative of the population • Non-probability sampling is the selection of participants because they are available, convent, or represent some characteristic the investigator wants to study.
Types of Probability Samples • Simple Random: selecting a sample from the population so all in the population have an equal chance of being selected • Systematic: choosing every “nth” individual or site in the population until the desired sample size is achieved
Types of Probability Samples • Stratified sampling: stratifying the population on a characteristic (e.g. gender) than sampling from each stratum. • Multi-Stage Cluster Sampling: a sample chosen in one or two stages because the population is not easily identified or is large
A.Simple Random Sample Each member of the study population has an equal probability of being selected
B. Stratified Random Sample Each member of a population is assigned to a group or stratum, then random sample is drawn from each stratum (ensures levels represented)
Advantages of Non-probability sampling • Fast, low effort\cost methods • Useful in exploratory research
A. Convenience sampling Select cases based on their willingness and available to be studied
B. Judgmental sampling Select cases based on some purpose (Most similar\dissimilar, Typical or Critical cases)
C. Systematic Sampling Select cases based on some predefined criteria (Interval sampling)
Every 4th
D. Snowball Sampling The researcher asks participants to identify other participants to become members of the sample.
Identify Data Options Specify Types of Variables • Independent - does not depend on another • Dependent - value depends on another • Intervening - prevent or alter a result or course of events • Control - influence or direct people's behavior or the course of events. • Moderating - less extreme, intense or violent. • Confounding - cause surprise or confusion
Identify Data Options Operationalize Variables Operational Definition: • The specification of how the variable will be defined and measured: – typically based on the literature review – often found in reports under “definition of terms”
Scales of Measurement 1. Nominal or Categorical 2. Ordinal 3. Interval 4. Ratio
Identify Data Options Select Scales of Measurement • Nominal (Categorical): categories that describe traits or characteristics participants can check • Ordinal: participants rank order a characteristic, trait or attribute
Identify Data Options Select Scales of Measurement • Interval: provides “continuous” response possibilities to questions with assumed equal distance • Ratio: a scale with a true zero and equal distances among units
Interval • Addition of a meaningful unit of measure: equal size interval • Consistent and useful unit of measure allows the use of basic arithmetic functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) – E.g., Fahrenheit scale, shoe size
January
20
February
15
March
20
April
25
May
30
June
35
July
40
August
45
September
40
October
35
November
30
December
25
Ratio • Addition of an absolute zero point to interval scale • Zero implies total absence of the characteristic • Ability to utilize ratio statements (2:1, 1:5) – E.g., Height and weight
Yes
No
45
76
Perception • Perception (from the Latin perceptio) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information, or the environment. (Schacter,
Daniel (2011). Psychology. Worth Publishers.)
Perception • All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system.
Senses • In order to receive information from the environment we are equipped with sense organs e.g. eye, ear, nose. • Each sense organ is part of a sensory system which receives sensory inputs and transmits sensory information to the brain.
Environmental Psychology • Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the interplay between individuals and their surroundings. • It examines the way in which the natural environment and our built environments shape us as individuals.
Environment Relationship
Natural Environment
Human Environment
Human Experience
Virtual Environment
Built Environment
Instructor: Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
Architectural Theory 1: Human Environmental Factors
99 9-1999
Background • Building Users • Users are typically thought of as occupants, e.g. those who visit, reside or work in buildings. Indirect users are those who make observations because they are nearby or have an unobtrusive view.
Instructor: Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
Architectural Theory 1: Human Environmental Factors
100 9-1999
Background • Differences Among Occupants • While readily visible distinctions are apparent (e.g. gender, age, etc.), many subtle psychological, cultural, and social factors exist which may be extremely important for the designer to consider but which cannot be readily identified. People have memories of past events, the ability to learn, a cultural and biological heritage, and many other attributes which serve to distinguish individuals from one another.
Instructor: Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
Architectural Theory 1: Human Environmental Factors
101 9-1999
Background
Self Status
Member of a group Security
Food, Clothing, Shelter
Instructor: Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
Architectural Theory 1: Human Environmental Factors
102 9-1999
E. T. Hall – Proxemics
E. T. Hall – Proxemics • Intimate distance – 6 to 18 inches (15-45cm) This level of physical distance often indicates a closer relationship or greater comfort between individuals. It often occurs during intimate contact such as hugging, whispering, or touching.
E. T. Hall – Proxemics • Personal distance – 1.5 to 4 feet (45-120cm) Physical distance at this level usually occurs between people who are family members or close friends. The closer the people can comfortably stand while interacting can be an indicator of the intimacy of the relationship.
E. T. Hall – Proxemics • Social distance – 4 to 12 feet (1,20m-3,50m) This level of physical distance is often used with individuals who are acquaintances. With someone you know fairly well, such as a coworker you see several times a week, you might feel more comfortable interacting at a closer distance. In cases where you do not know the other person well, such as a postal delivery driver you only see once a month, a distance of 10 to 12 feet may feel more comfortable.
E. T. Hall – Proxemics • Public distance – 12 to 25 feet (3,50-7,50m) Physical distance at this level is often used in public speaking situations. Talking in front of a class full of students or giving a presentation at work are good examples of such situations.
Two types of processes in perception: • Psychologists distinguish between two types of processes in perception: 1. bottom-up processing and 2. top-down processing.
Two types of processes in perception: • Bottom-up processing is also known as data-driven processing, because perception begins with the stimulus itself.
Two types of processes in perception: • Top-down processing refers to the use of contextual information in pattern recognition.
End