Empirical Design Research: Student Definitions, Perceptions, and Values

Abstract

AESTRACTThird and fourth year undergraduate interior design students in Colleges of Architecture or Human Sciences at three different research universities were surveyed to compare their: (1 ) perceived value of research in interior design practice, (2) perceptions of who should conduct research, ( 3 ) attitudes toward research in interior design education, and (4) definitions of research. A survey instrument was developed that consisted of one openended question and 29 questions using a Likert scale. Questions were adapted from the Chenoweth and Chidister (1 983) scale that measured landscape architecture attitudes toward research, and from the Dickson and White ( 1 993) scale administered to interior design practicing professionals. A total of 89 undergraduate students were surveyed from the three universities. The majority of the students were Caucasian (n = 79) and female (n = 84). The results indicated that, overall, students valued research for the profession regardless of their college or university off iliation. However, their definitions of research were pragmatic in nature, and they often regarded research as the gathering of information rather than the generation of new knowledge. The students were also unclear about who should be conducting interior design research. College affiliation revealed that students who were in an architecturally-based program put a higher value on research at the undergraduate level than those students housed in a College of Human Sciences; similarly, College of Architecture students had a better understanding that research advanced a profession.Although much has been written about practicing professionals' perceptions of research (e.g., Dickson and White, 1993; White and Dickson, 1994), to date, no JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN 1 8 Copyright 2007, Interior Design Educators Council, Journal of Intm'or Design 32(2) EMPIRICAL DESIGN RESEARCH DICKINSON, MARSDEN, AND READ Although educators are producing the research, practitioners do not rely on this body of knowledge during the design process.

A Survey on Practitioner Attitudes toward Research in Interior Design Education

“…While the definitions of research have not changed in over 40 years, an understanding of research in interior design education and practice often seems to be lacking among students, educators, and practitioners. Dickinson, Marsden, and Read (2007) found that while undergraduate interior design students from three research universities valued research, they could not accurately define the term research and relied quite heavily on soft sources of information such as the Internet, text books, and magazines for the “research” phases of their projects. In a follow‐up study, Dickinson et al (2009) surveyed interior design faculty and discovered that educators who responded to the questionnaire do not have a working definition of research.…”

Research Utilization in the Design Decision Making Process

“…While interior design educators do advocate the use of research in studio projects (Dickinson et al, 2009), students can still be reliant on soft sources of information (Dickinson et al, 2007). If these students are graduating from school thinking that browsing the Internet is research, it is then understandable that as practitioners, they would still not know what academic journals are.…”

“…Other scholars have proposed tools and methods which emphasize the collection and analysis of information (Bose, Pennypacker & Yahner, 2006;Marinic, 2010;Orthel, 2015;Oxman, 2004), and the integration of knowledge (Deshpande & Khan, 2010). Yet, the pervasiveness of these integrative models in unclear -especially in interior design -and confusion remains amongst students surrounding the role of research in interior design practice (Dickinson, Marsden, & Read, 2007).…”

“…While more contemporary definitions have been offered, this was used by the researcher as it included more pragmatic approaches and did not focus on the generation of knowledge. This was important as definitions and perceptions of design research vary (Dickinson et al, 2007) and previous studies have indicated designers do not typically associate research with original discovery (Dickinson et al, 2012). If participants indicated they did not conduct project related research they were asked reasons why and exited the survey.…”

Students as Researchers, Collaborators, & End-users: Informing Campus Design

“…When querying student perceptions concerning research, Dickinson, Marsden, and Read (2007) determined that students generally valued design research (and the required analysis), yet were unclear as to who conducts it and the tasks involved to produce it. An examination of design studio pedagogical strategies indicates that students are typically exposed to a very limited range of research-oriented tasks.…”