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MODEL ANSWERS

ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH METHODS-AR833

Q.1: - Write short notes on:

a) Dissertation

A dissertation or final year project, as a form of assessment differs from other module
assessments. The expectation is that, the learner, takes responsibility for his own learning and
that he produces a literature review, choose a method for undertaking a study, write up his
findings and discuss the outcomes in a discussion section.

b) Extraneous Variable

Extraneous variables are any variables that you are not intentionally studying in your experiment
or test. When you run an experiment, you’re looking to see if one variable (the independent
variable) has an effect on another variable (the dependent variable). In an ideal world you’d run
the experiment, check the results, and voila! Unfortunately…like many things in life…it’s a little
more complicated that than. Other variables, perhaps ones that never crossed your mind, might
influence the outcome of an experiment. These undesirable variables are called extraneous
variables.

c) Use of convenience sampling

Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique where subjects are selected


because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher.

A convenience sample is a type of non-probability sampling method where the sample is taken
from a group of people easy to contact or to reach. For example, standing at a mall or a grocery
store and asking people to answer questions would be an example of a convenience sample.
This type of sampling is also known as grab sampling or availability sampling. There are no
other criteria to the sampling method except that people be available and willing to participate.
In addition, this type of sampling method does not require that a simple random sample is
generated, since the only criteria is whether the participants agree to participate

d) Behavioral Mapping

Behavioral mapping is a type of systematic observation research that tracks behavior over
space and time. The tracking may focus on a particular place or be based on an individual's
movements. We term these two techniques place-centered and person or individual-centered
mapping.

e) Post Occupancy Evaluation


Post Occupancy Evaluation is a quality process for improving buildings’ fitness for purpose. It
produces recommendations for building solutions and ways of using buildings to enhance
productivity and wellbeing. The recommendations are based on stakeholders’ testable
observations about building use.

Post Occupancy Evaluations is used to improve the ways that buildings are used to support
productivity and wellbeing.
Specifically it is used to:

● Account for building quality


● Inform planning and briefing (programming) for new buildings and alterations
● Troubleshoot building/use problems (such as change management and new work styles)

f) Synopsis

1. a brief or condensed statement giving a general view of some subject.


2. a compendium of heads or short paragraphs giving a view of the whole.
3. a brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play, etc.

The research synopsis is the plan for your research project. It provides the rationale for the
research, the research objectives, the proposed methods for data collection and recording
formats and/or questionnaires and interview guides.

The synopsis is based on the information provided by the supervisor(s) and by secondary
sources of information. In the final report you will present the results of your data collection and
elaboration, with the discussion and the conclusion.

The full synopsis should be maximum 3-4,000 words, excluding appendices.

g) Simulation of Environment

A simulation-based learning environment is a setting for learning that includes a controlled,


shielded and often simplified copy of a real world process or system to be studied. Cit 1

Simulation is a methodology for understanding the interrelationships among components of a


process or a system; it uses a model that depicts or mirrors some aspects of reality in form, not
necessarily in content (Aldrich, 2004). Strictly a simulation only covers the process or system it
replicates. A simulation-based learning environment ext
ends it to an interactive simulation, which includes the learner in the loop and possibly provides
structured opportunities for learning, either by adding instructions, assignments, learning
scenarios, feedback, assessments or other learning support functions. Simulation-based
learning environments enable learners to engage in realistic scenarios with requisite complexity
that allow experimentation and safe practices. They allow learners to change parameters of the
simulation or to experiment with its functional layout, without any other consequence than a
state change in the simulation. They thus provides a risk-free environment for learning.

h) Hypothesis

A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis


to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists
generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be
explained with the available scientific theories. Even though the words "hypothesis" and "theory"
are often used synonymously, a scientific hypothesis is not the same as a scientific theory. A
working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis proposed for further research.[1]
A different meaning of the term hypothesis is used in formal logic, to denote the antecedent of a
proposition; thus in the proposition "If P, then Q", P denotes the hypothesis (or antecedent); Q
can be called a consequent. P is the assumption in a (possibly counterfactual) What If question.

A supposition or explanation (theory) that is provisionally accepted in order to interpret certain


events or phenomena, and to provide guidance for further investigation. A hypothesis may be
proven correct or wrong, and must be capable of refutation. If it remains unrefuted by facts, it is
said to be verified or corroborated.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/hypothesis.html

i) Likert Scale

Responses are graded on a continuum (example : rate the appearance of the product on a
scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most preferred appearance)

A scale in which a person selects the number which is considered to reflect the perceived
quality of a product.

Statement: e.g. "I could not live without my computer".Response options:

● Strongly disagree
● Disagree
● Agree
● Strongly agree

j) Coding Process

In the social sciences, coding is an analytical process in which data, in either quantitative form
(such as questionnaires results) or qualitative form (such as interview transcripts) are
categorized to facilitate analysis.
Data coding in research methodology is a preliminary step to analyzing data. The data that is
obtained from surveys, experiments or secondary sources are in raw form. This data needs to
be refined and organized to evaluate and draw conclusions. Data coding is not an easy job and
the person or persons involved in data coding must have knowledge and experience of it.
.

Q.2: - Explain necessity of research work in Architecture and discuss about the various
types of research work?

Stephen Kieran explicitly describes the relationship between design and research as essentially
divergent, but complementary: “Research brings science to our art. . . . To move the art of
architecture forward, however, we need to supplement intuition with science.”

In principle, all research may generate theory across these scales, but in architecture
and allied fields, the likelihood is that research will more likely generate middle‐range theory
than big theory. This is the case for at least two reasons. First, since architecture is a
professional field, much of the thrust of inquiry is directed to applied or situated contexts.
Second, compared to the research traditions of “purer” academic disciplines, research in
architecture and related design and professional fields is relatively newer, and therefore less
developed. So, in that sense, there has been less opportunity to refine broader levels of theory
that would apply across the multiple threads of architectural research.

Research may be generally placed under any of the following heads or under a combination of
the following heads:

 Fundamental or Basic research


 Applied Research
 Descriptive Research
 Analytical Research
 Experimental Research
 Theoretical Research
 Theoretical-experimental research
 Design Research
 Computer Based Research
 Quantitative Research
 Qualitative Research
 Empirical Research
 Mixed Research

Q.3: - Explain various components of an architectural dissertation with examples.

● Identification of research problem


● Literature review
● Specifying the purpose of research
● Determine specific research questions
● Specification of a Conceptual framework
● Choice of a methodology
● Data collection
● Analyzing and interpreting the data
● Reporting and evaluating research
● Communicating the research findings and, possibly, recommendations

Q.4: - a) What is the difference between primary and secondary data and explain the
advantages and disadvantages of each.
The difference between primary and second research collection is that primary research data
collection involves conducting research oneself, or using the data for the purpose it was
intended for. Secondary research data, on the other hand, was collected by a third party or for
some other purpose.

Advantages and Disadvantages of primary data


Gives original research quality, and does not carry bias or opinions of third parties.
The researchers can change the course of study whenever needed, and choose platforms for
observation well-suited for projects.
Research is oriented for specific goals and purpose, cutting out possibility of wasting resources.
The outcome from research audience may not be always feasible.
The procedure is more time consuming, and costs a lot of assets.
Primary data may ask for huger expense than secondary data.

Advantages and Disadvantages of secondary data


Secondary data is available from other sources and may already have been used in previous
research, making it easier to carry out further research. It is time-saving and cost-efficient: the
data was collected by someone other than the researcher. Administrative data and census data
may cover both larger and much smaller samples of the population in detail. Information
collected by the government will also cover parts of the population that may be less likely to
respond to the census.

A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work needed has
already been carried out, such as literature reviews or case studies. The data may have been
used in published texts and statistics elsewhere, and the data could already be promoted in the
media or bring in useful personal contacts. Secondary data generally have a pre-established
degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the researcher who is re-
using such data.

The data may be out of date or inaccurate. If using data collected for different research
purposes, it may not cover those samples of the population researchers want to examine, or not
in sufficient detail. Administrative data, which is not originally collected for research, may not be
available in the usual research formats or may be difficult to get access to.
b) Explain the difference between scientific, deductive and inductive thought with
examples.
Scientific thought is that mode of thinking about any scientific subject, content, or problem in
which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the
structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.
Generic scientific thinking skills apply to all sciences. For example, scientific thinkers are clear
as to the purpose at hand and the question at issue. They question information, conclusions,
and points of view. They strive to be accurate, precise, and relevant.

Deductive thought is a logical process in which a conclusion is based on the concordance of


multiple premises that are generally assumed to be true. Deductive reasoning is sometimes
referred to as top-down logic. Its counterpart, inductive reasoning, is sometimes referred to as
bottom-up logic. Where deductive reasoning proceeds from general premises to a specific
conclusion, inductive reasoning proceeds from specific premises to a general conclusion.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle, who is considered the father of deductive reasoning, wrote the
following classic example:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

Inductive thought is a logical process in which multiple premises, all believed true or found
true most of the time, are combined to obtain a specific conclusion.
Inductive reasoning is often used in applications that involve prediction, forecasting, or behavior.
Here is an example:
A meteorologist will tell you that in the United States (which lies in the northern hemisphere),
most tornadoes rotate counterclockwise, but not all of them do. Therefore, the conclusion is
probably true, but not necessarily true. Inductive reasoning is, unlike deductive reasoning, not
logically rigorous. Imperfection can exist and inaccurate conclusions can occur.

Q.5: - What are the various methods of data collection techniques? Explain what you
understand by checklist and necessary consideration for questionnaire.

Methods of data collection techniques: -


 Interviews
 Questionnaires and Surveys
 Observations
 Focus Groups
 Ethnographies, Oral History, and Case Studies
 Documents and Records

Checklist: - A checklist is a type of job aid used to reduce failure by compensating for potential
limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in
carrying out a task. A basic example is the "to do list." A more advanced checklist would be a
schedule, which lays out tasks to be done according to time of day or other factors. A primary
task in checklist is documentation of the task and auditing against the documentation.
The purpose of this checklist is to assist with the research process.

Checklist:
Identify a topic of research. Choose something both original and interesting to you. You may find
that many interesting topics are too broad to research and present. Narrow it down. Try to be
more specific about what aspect of your topic you want to research.

Choose a Mentor. Approach a professor or other faculty mentor that you feel has a good
understanding of your topic. He or she will be able to guide you as you conduct your research
and point out ways in which to strengthen your research quality.

Study Existing Materials. Most likely someone else has had the same questions you have about
a specific topic. Try to find their materials and what answers they found. Even if your question
has already been answered, you may find that the answers lead to more questions that you
could research.

Choose a Method of Research. Which subject you choose will determine the method of
research you can perform. Regardless of topic, you will probably be able to review any existing
literature on your topic that could help to give you more insight into the best way to conduct your
research. Methods of research could include scientific experiments, sociological surveys,
analysis of existing data, and even interviews. All of these methods will give you data that you
can quantify and use to support your hypothesis.

Conduct Your Research. Be thorough. If you are performing an experiment, make sure your
results can be repeated several times. If you are conducting a survey, ensure you get a good
response rate. If you are conducting interviews, try to make the questions as unbiased as
possible. The reliability of your data will be examined and judges will want to know exactly how
you got your results.

Work with Mentor to Analyze Results. Your mentor will be able to help you to fine tune your
research and prepare your results. You will do most of the work, of course, but your mentor can
provide experienced insights into ways that you can improve your presentation and data
gathering process.

Keep Studying Your Topic. Be sure to have an intimate understanding of your research results.
Even if you are making a presentation poster, be prepared to answer any possible questions
you could be asked. You are the expert on your research so study it to ensure you have the
confidence of an expert.
The following general considerations might be taken while preparing questionnaire.
 The questions should be few, short, clearly worded, simple and easy to reply.
 The questions should be within the information scope of the respondents.
 The questions should have direct relation to subject of the investigation.
 The opening questions should not be such as to abuse human interest.
 Units and technical terms are not to be used in question as far as possible.
 The questions should be inter-related with each other.
 The questions should proceed in logical sequence moving from easy to more difficult
questions.
 Personal and intimate questions are not to be included as far as possible.
 Emotional questions should be avoided.
 The questions should be so framed that there is a minimum of writing works. Questions
may be dichotomous or multiple choice. Open-ended questions should be avoided to the
extent possible.
 The questions should be free from ambiguity. Vague expressions capable of different
interpretations should be avoided in a questionnaire.
 Answer to a question should be objective and have a capacity of easily classified,
tabulated and analyzed.
 There should be some control questions in the questionnaire which indicate the reliability
of the respondent.
 Adequate space for answers should be provided in the questionnaire.
 There should always be provision for indications of uncertainty, e.g. "do not know", "No
preference" and so on.
 Questions should be so worded that ego of the respondents is not injured in any way.
 If there is more than one page of questionnaires, each page of questionnaires should be
numbered serially.
 A place in the questionnaire should be provided for the signature of the respondent.
 Brief directions with regard to filling up the questionnaire should be given.
 The physical appearance of the questionnaire should be good. The quality of the paper,
along with its color must be good.

Q.6: - Explain various types of scales used in Architectural research work.


Types Of Measurement Scale

The theory of scale types proposed in 1946 by S S Stevens focused on nominal, ordinal,
interval and ratio scales of measurement.
Stevens has classified the different types of measurement scale into four categories:
• Nominal or classificatory scale
• Ordinal or ranking scale
• Interval scale
• Ratio scale
The Nominal or Classificatory Scale
A nominal scale enables the classification of individuals, objects or responses based on a
common/shared property or characteristic. These people, objects or responses are divided into
a number of subgroups in such a way that each member of the subgroup has a common
characteristic. A variable measured on a nominal scale may have one, two or more
subcategories depending upon the extent of variation.

Classification by means of a nominal scale ensures that individuals, objects or responses within
the same subgroup have a common characteristic or property as the basis of classification. The
sequence in which subgroups are listed makes no difference as there is no relationship among
subgroups.

The Ordinal or Ranking Scale


An ordinal scale has all the properties of a nominal scale – categorizing individuals, objects,
responses or a property into subgroups on the basis of a common characteristic – but also
ranks the subgroups in a certain order. They are arranged in either ascending or descending
order according to the extent that a subcategory reflects the magnitude of variation in the
variable.

Therefore, an ordinal scale has all the properties/characteristics of a nominal scale, in addition
to its own. Subcategories are arranged in order of the magnitude of the property/characteristic.
Also, the ‘distance’ between the subcategories is not equal as there is no quantitative unit of
measurement.

The Interval Scale


An interval scale has all the characteristics of an ordinal scale; that is, individuals or responses
belonging to a subcategory have a common characteristic and the subcategories are arranged
in an ascending or descending order. In addition, an interval scale uses a unit of measurement
that enables the individuals or responses to be placed at equally spaced intervals in relation to
the spread of the variable.

This scale has a starting and a terminating point and is divided into equally spaced
units/intervals. The starting and terminating points and the number of units/intervals between
them are arbitrary and vary from scale to scale.

The interval scale is relative; that is, it plots the position of individuals or responses in relation to
one another with respect to the magnitude of the measurement variable. Hence, an interval
scale has all the properties of an ordinal scale, and it has a unit of measurement with an
arbitrary starting and terminating point.

The Ratio Scale


A ratio scale has all the properties of nominal, ordinal and interval scales and it also has a
starting point fixed at zero. Therefore, it is an absolute scale – the difference between the
intervals is always measured from a zero point. This means the ratio scale can be used for
mathematical operations. The measurement of income, age, height and weight are examples of
this scale. A person who is 40 years of age is twice as old as a 20-year-old. A person earning
$60 000 per year earns three times the salary of a person earning $20 000.

Q.7: - What is a sample? State the importance of sampling in research and discuss any
three sampling methods.
In research terms a sample is a group of people, objects, or items that are taken from a larger
population for measurement. The sample should be representative of the population to ensure
that we can generalize the findings from the research sample to the population as a whole.

Sampling is important in research to be able to produce accurate results. It is impractical and


undesirable to study the whole population. If the sample is too small or excessively large, it may
lead to incorrect findings. Sampling techniques may be used to find representative samples to
avoid bias.
Choosing a 'correct' sample means making sure that your sample is large enough and
representative of the population.

SAMPLING METHODS: -
Probability Sampling
Probability sampling means that every individual in a population stands and equal chance of
being selected. Because probability sampling involves random selection, it assures that different
subset of the population have an equal chance of being represented in the sample. This makes
probability samples more representatives, and researchers are better able to generalize their
results to the group as a whole

Nonprobability Sampling
Non-probability sampling, on the other hand, involves selecting participants using methods that
do not give every individual in a population an equal chance of being chosen. One problem with
this type of sample is that volunteers might be different on certain variables than non-volunteers,
which might make it difficult to generalize the results to the entire population.

Purposive sampling
Purposive sampling involves seeking out individuals that meet certain criteria. For example,
marketers might be interested in learning how their products are perceived by women between
the ages of 18 and 35. They might hire a market research firm to conduct telephone interviews
that intentionally seek out and interview women that meet their age criteria.

Q.8: - Discuss any two of the following:


a) Data analysis
Data Analysis is the process of systematically applying statistical and/or logical techniques to
describe and illustrate, condense and recap, and evaluate data. An essential component of
ensuring data integrity is the accurate and appropriate analysis of research findings.
Data analysis, also known as analysis of data or data analytics, is a process of inspecting,
cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information,
suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making.The term data analysis is sometimes
used as a synonym for data modeling.

b) Multidimensional scaling
Multidimensional scaling is a visual representation of distances or dissimilarities between sets of
objects. “Objects” can be colors, faces, map coordinates, political persuasion, or any kind of real
or conceptual stimuli (Kruskal and Wish, 1978). Objects that are more similar (or have shorter
distances) are closer together on the graph than objects that are less similar (or have longer
distances). As well as interpreting dissimilarities as distances on a graph, MDS can also serve
as a dimension reduction technique for high-dimensional data.

c) Bibliography
The bibliography, which is generally appended to the research report, is a list of books in some
way pertinent to the research which has been done. It should contain all those works which the
researcher has consulted. The bibliography should be arranged alphabetically and may be
divided into two parts; the first part may contain the names of books and pamphlets, and the
second part may contain the names of magazine and newspaper articles. Generally, this pattern
of bibliography is considered convenient and satisfactory from the point of view of reader,
though it is not the only way of presenting bibliography

d) Unobtrusive measures
Unobtrusive measures are measures that don't require the researcher to intrude in the research
context. Direct and participant observation requires that the researcher be physically present.
This can lead the respondents to alter their behavior in order to look good in the eyes of the
researcher. Some major types are:
 Indirect measures
 Content analysis
 Secondary analysis of data

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