ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH METHODS
ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH IS THE SEARCH FOR NEW KNOWLEDGE AND NEW IDEAS ABOUT THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. RESEARCH CAN BE CONDUCTED IN A VARIETY OF SUB-DISCIPLINES, INCLUDING
BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT-BEHAVIOR STUDIES, HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE, AND COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY. ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH EMPLOYS DIFFERENT METHODS DEPENDING ON THE
SUBJECT OF STUDY. RESEARCH METHODS RANGE FROM EXPERIMENTAL TO DESCRIPTIVE DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM UNDER INVESTIGATION. THE FOLLOWING IS A
COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT RESEARCH METHODS AND APPROACHES RECOMMENDED FOR ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH.
SELECTED ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ONTOLOGICAL, EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATIONS:
CURIOSITY-ORIENTED MISSION-ORIENTED
THEORETICAL RESEARCH INTERPRETATIVE RESEARCH EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH SURVEY RESEARCH SIMULATION RESEARCH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ACTION RESEARCH
ONTOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED BY KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED BY KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED BY KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED BY KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED BY KNOWLEDGE IS A SOCIALLY KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED
ASSUMPTIONS DEVISING LOGICAL, DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPING AND TESTING DEVELOPING AND TESTING IMPROVING OUR CONSTRUCTED REALITY AND THROUGH THE PROCESS
ABSTRACT THEORIES OF INTERPRETATIONS OF GENERAL THEORIES THAT GENERAL THEORIES THAT UNDERSTANDING OF THE CANNOT BE GENERALIZED OF CHANGE; GENERALIZED
SOME REALITY REALITY IN ORDER TO APPLY TO ITEMS OF INTEREST APPLY TO ALL BEHAVIOR OF COMPLEX KNOWLEDGE LESS
UNDERSTAND THE HUMAN SOCIAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THROUGH IMPORTANT
CONDITION ISSUES SIMULATION
EPISTEMOLOGICAL WE KNOW THROUGH OUR WE KNOW THROUGH OUR WE KNOW ONLY WHAT WE WE KNOW ONLY WHAT WE WE LEARN ABOUT THE WE KNOW ONLY BY PARTICIPANTS LEARN
ASSUMPTIONS OWN REASONING INTUITIVE UNDERSTANDING PERCEIVE THROUGH OUR CAN MEASURE AND TEST WORLD BY SIMULATING DEVELOPING AN IN DEPTH, FROM TRYING TO
CAPABILITIES COMBINED WITH REASONING SENSES (LOGICAL POSITIVIST) (LOGICAL POSITIVIST) ARTIFICIAL WORLDS INTIMATE UNDERSTANDING IMPROVE EXISTING
ABOUT INDIVIDUALS SITUATIONS
DISCIPLINARY BASE PHILOSOPHY, MATHEMATICS HISTORY AND THE ARTS NATURAL SCIENCES SOCIAL SCIENCES ARTIFICIAL SCIENCES CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; PRACTICE
ETHNOGRAPHY
RESEARCH GOAL(S) DEVELOP THEORY DEVELOP INTERPRETATIVE, IDENTIFY CAUSAL LINKS; CAUSAL EXPLANATION; TEST DEVELOPMENT OF INSIGHTS DESCRIBE SITUATION FOCUS IS ON DEVELOPING
THEORETICAL CAUSAL EXPLANATION; TEST THEORY ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF HOLISTICALLY AND FROM PRACTICAL RESULTS;
UNDERSTANDING THEORY COMPLEX SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE OF THE SOLVING REAL PROBLEMS;
PARTICIPANTS SET CHANGE IN MOTION
METHODOLOGICAL LOGICAL ABSTRACTION; USE BOTH INDUCTIVE AND EXPERIMENTAL AND QUASI- QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL; DEDUCTION TO BUILD CASE STUDIES; DIAGNOSIS;
ORIENTATION OF DEDUCTIVE LOGIC DEDUCTIVE EXPERIMENTAL; INDUCTION; INDUCTION MODEL; INDUCTION TO THEMATIC/CONTENT DEVELOPMENT AND
"SCIENTIFIC METHOD" EVALUATE SIMULATION ANALYSIS IMPLEMENTATION OF
RESULTS ACTION PLANS;
EVALUATION OF ACTION
PLAN
KEY METHODOLOGICAL LOGIC DEVELOP CRITICAL VALIDITY, RELIABILITY, BIAS; VALIDITY, RELIABILITY, BIAS, DEVELOP A MODEL TO EMPATHY; DESCRIPTIVE EMPOWERMENT; MAY
CONCEPTS PERSPECTIVE TEST OF NULL HYPOTHESIS TEST OF NULL HYPOTHESIS SIMPLIFY REALITY ORIENTATION EMPHASIZE TRAINING
VARIABLES EMERGE DURING RESEARCH EMERGE DURING RESEARCH PREDETERMINED PREDETERMINED PREDETERMINED AND EMERGE DURING RESEARCH EMERGE DURING
EMERGE RESEARCH
CONTROL OR NOT RELEVANT NOT RELEVANT NECESSARY USUALLY COMPARISON COMPARISONS EMERGE AS NOT RELEVANT NOT RELEVANT
COMPARISON GROUP GROUPS ESTABLISHED IN RESULT OF SIMULATIONS
ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS NOT RELEVANT DESCRIPTIVE; POSSIBLY USUALLY PARAMETRIC USUALLY NON-PARAMETRIC VARIES FROM DESCRIPTIVE USUALLY THEMATIC OR DEPENDS ON CLIENT AND
AUGMENTED WITH (CORRELATION, T-TEST, (RANK CORRELATION, CHI- AND QUANTITATIVE TO CONTENT ANALYSIS; SPECIFICS OF THE
QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES ANOVA, REGRESSION) SQUARE, MCA) QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTIVE FOCUS SITUATION; OFTEN USED
TO DIAGNOSE THE
PROBLEM
PARTICIPANT'S ROLE IN NONE PROVIDES FIRST HAND NONE NONE VARIES DEPENDING ON USUALLY AS AN INFORMANT ACTIVELY PARTICIPATES
RESEARCH RECORD OF EVENT DEFINITION OF THE
ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM
RESEARCHER'S ROLE SEEKS THEORETICAL SEEKS THEORETICAL SEEKS TO BE OBJECTIVE SEEKS TO BE OBJECTIVE EXTRAPOLATES BEHAVIOR OF INTERACTIVE; OFTEN AS COLLABORATES WITH
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Architectural Resaerch Methods 15/07/2025
INTERPRETATION INTERPRETATION SIMULATED SYSTEM TO REAL PARTICIPANT OBSERVER CLIENT
WORLD
POLITICAL IGNORED OFTEN AN INTEGRAL PART OF CONTROLLED BY RESEARCH CONTROLLED BY RESEARCH MAY BE RELEVANT DESCRIBED INCLUDED AS PART OF THE
PRESSURES INTERPRETATION DESIGN OR IGNORED DESIGN OR IGNORED DEPENDING ON THE ACTION RESEARCH
DEFINITION OF THE CONTEXT
ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM
RESEARCH REPORT PRESENTATION OF LOGICAL PRESENTATION OF PRESENTATION OF PRESENTATION OF PRESENTATION OF MODEL'S PRESENT HOLISTIC DESCRIBES THE CONTEXT
(IMPLEMENTATION AND CONCLUSIONS (ACADEMIC INTERPRETATION (USUALLY STATISTICAL PROOF STATISTICAL TEST AND LOGIC; COMPARISON OF PORTRAYAL OF PARTICIPANTS AND OUTCOME OF THE
COMMUNICATION) FOCUS) ACADEMIC FOCUS) (ACADEMIC FOCUS) INTERPRETATION (ACADEMIC SIMULATION RESULTS TO AND SETTINGS (ACADEMIC RESEARCH (PRAGMATIC
FOCUS) REALITY (ACADEMIC OR OR PRAGMATIC FOCUS) FOCUS)
PRAGMATIC FOCUS)
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OPTIMIZATION THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURAL MATERIAL TESTING POST-OCCUPANCY THOUGHT EXPERIMENT, PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION DEMONSTRATION
EXAMPLES APPROACHES; HISTORY AND THEORY EVALUATIONS, BEHAVIORAL GAMING-SIMULATION, PROJECTS; ADVOCACY
MATHEMATICAL THEORIES; MAPPING MOCK-UPS, COMPUTER PLANNING
ALGORITHMS SIMULATIONS, COST/BENEFIT
ANALYSIS
Definitions:
ONTOLOGY is the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence or reality as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.
EPISTEMOLOGICAL - the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.
METHODOLOGICAL - noun, plural methodologies. 1. a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a given discipline, as in the arts or sciences. 2. ... the underlying principles and
rules of organization of a philosophical system or inquiry procedure.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Architectural Resaerch Methods 15/07/2025
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Architectural Resaerch Methods 15/07/2025
