RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR
ARCHITECTS
Rajini Itham
Faculty of Architecture
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
•Introduction to Research
•Meaning and Objective of Research
•Types of Research
Rajini Itham
Faculty of Architecture
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Introduction
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Introduction
“All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for it
leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to invention”
-Hudson Maxim
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Meaning of Research
•The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of
research as “a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts
in any branch of knowledge.”
• Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new
knowledge.”
•According to Clifford Woody, research comprises defining and redefining
problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organising and
evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully
testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Meaning of Research
•D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences define
research as “the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of
generalising to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids
in construction of theory or in the practice of an art.”
•Research refers to a search for knowledge.
•Once can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent
information on a specific topic.
•In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Meaning of Research
The search for knowledge through objective and systematic method of finding
solution to a problem is RESEARCH, consisting of :
➢Enunciating the problem
➢Formulating a hypothesis
➢ Collecting the facts or data
➢Analyzing the facts
➢Reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solutions(s) towards the
concerned problem or in certain generalizations for some theoretical formulation.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Objectives of Research
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it
(exploratory or formulative research studies)
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a
group (descriptive research studies)
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is
associated with something else (diagnostic research studies)
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables ( hypothesis-
testing research studies).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Motivation in Research
1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits
2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e.,
concern over practical problems initiates research
3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work
4. Desire to be of service to society
5. Desire to get respectability
6. Directives of government
7. Employment conditions
8. Curiosity about new things
9. Desire to understand causal relationships
10. Social thinking and awakening
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
Rajini Itham
Faculty of Architecture
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
(i) Descriptive vs. Analytical:
➢ Descriptive research
• Includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds.
• Description of the state of affairs as it exists at present.
• Ex post facto research for descriptive research studies commonly used.
• Researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what has
happened or what is happening.
• Most ex post facto research projects are used for descriptive studies in which
the researcher seeks to measure such items as, for example, frequency of
shopping, preferences of people, or similar data.
➢ Analytical Research
• The researcher has to use facts or information already available, and analyze
these to make a critical evaluation of the material under their control
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
(ii) Applied vs. Fundamental:
➢Applied (or action) research
•Aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an
industrial/business organisation
•Research aimed at certain conclusions (say, a solution) facing a concrete social or
business problem is an example of applied research.
•Research to identify social, economic or political trends that may affect a
particular institution or the copy research (research to find out whether certain
communications will be read and understood) or the marketing research or
evaluation research are examples of applied research.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
➢ Fundamental (basic or pure) research.
•Mainly concerned with generalisations and with the formulation of a theory.
•“Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research.”
•
•Research concerning some natural phenomenon or relating to pure
mathematics are examples of fundamental research.
•Similarly, research studies, concerning human behaviour carried on with a view
to make generalisations about human behaviour
Central aim of Applied Research is to discover a solution for some pressing
practical problem, whereas Basic Research is directed towards finding
information that has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to the already
existing organized body of scientific knowledge.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
(iii) Quantitative vs. Qualitative:
➢ Quantitative research
• Based on the measurement of quantity or amount.
• Applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity.
➢Qualitative research
•Concerned with qualitative phenomenon. For instance, when we are interested in
investigating the reasons for human behaviour
•‘Motivation Research’, an important type of qualitative research.
•Specially important in the behavioural sciences
•Factors which motivate people to behave in a particular manner or which make
people like or dislike a particular thing.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
(iv) Conceptual vs. Empirical:
➢ Conceptual research
• Related to some abstract idea(s) or theory
• Generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to
reinterpret existing ones.
➢Empirical research
• Relies on experience or Observation alone
• It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable of being
verified by observation or experiment.
• We can also call it as experimental type of research.
• Such research is thus characterized by the experimenter’s control over the
variables under study and his deliberate manipulation of one of them to study its
effects.
• Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought that certain variables
affect other variables in some way.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
Types of Research
All other types of research are variations of one or more:
➢One-time Research or Longitudinal Research
➢Field-setting Research or Laboratory Research or Simulation Research
➢Exploratory or Formalized
➢Historical Research
➢Conclusion-oriented and Decision-oriented.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS
ASSIGNMENT 1
THANK YOU
Rajini Itham
Faculty of Architecture
[email protected]
+91 80 6666 3333 Extn 883