Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
B.Arch Curriculum · Semester 8 · Core

Research Methods & Field Studies

Architecture is not only made — it is studied. How do you find out whether a courtyard really cools a house, whether an open-plan office helps or hinders work, what a heritage street means to the people who live on it? This course is the toolkit for asking such questions rigorously: the difference between research and design, the sequence from aim to conclusion, the hypothesis and its variables, and the seven research strategies — qualitative, correlational, experimental, simulation, logical, historical and the case study — that fit different questions. Then the field craft: pilot studies, sampling, questionnaires that don't bias the answer, and how big a sample you actually need. Finally, writing it up honestly — structure, citation and the ethics that separate scholarship from misconduct. The dissertation studio is the companion course; here we learn the methods.

5Units
6Outcomes
2Credits
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Unit III · The heart of the course

Analytical & Experimental Methods

Different questions need different strategies. Groat & Wang organise architectural research in three tiers — systems of inquiry (the worldview), strategies (the overall design) and tactics (the specific techniques) — and catalogue SEVEN strategies: interpretive-historical, qualitative, correlational, experimental and quasi-experimental, simulation and modelling, logical argumentation, and the case study with combined methods. Learn the core question, typical data and architectural example of each, the crucial difference between a true experiment and a quasi-experiment, and why correlation is not causation. Try the research-strategy explorer.

Seven strategiesQualitative & case studyExperiment vs quasiCorrelation ≠ causationStrategy explorer
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The syllabus

Five units — from the question to the published paper.

Transcribed from the official B.Arch syllabus. All 5 units are live as full interactive lessons, each with original diagrams, a self-assessment quiz and a studio task.

1

Unit 1 — Introduction to Research Methodology

Live

What independent research is; the difference between research, method and methodology; the importance, purpose and scope of research and field studies in architecture; how research applies across design, technology, environment, economic and behavioural areas; and how research differs from design (and where 'research through design' fits).

CO1
2

Unit 2 — Research Methods

Live

The research sequence — aim, objectives, scope and limitations; a good research question; the hypothesis (null vs alternative, directional vs non-directional) and hypothesis testing; identifying the research problem; variables — independent, dependent, control, confounding and extraneous; and Type I vs Type II error.

CO2
3

Unit 3 — Analytical & Experimental Methods

Live

Groat & Wang's three tiers — systems of inquiry, strategies and tactics — and the seven research strategies: interpretive-historical, qualitative, correlational, experimental and quasi-experimental, simulation and modelling, logical argumentation, and the case study (and combined methods), each with its question type, data and architectural example.

CO3
4

Unit 4 — Survey & Field Study Methods

Live

Pilot studies; field surveys and the collection of physical, architectural, environmental and organisational samples; probability sampling (random, systematic, stratified, cluster) vs non-probability sampling (convenience, purposive, quota, snowball); reliability vs validity; questionnaire design (open vs closed, the Likert scale, questions to avoid); and the sample-size calculation (Cochran).

CO4CO6
5

Unit 5 — Documentation & Ethics

Live

Preparing and analysing data sheets and questionnaires; arriving at conclusions; the research-report and dissertation structure; report writing; referencing styles; and the ethics of writing and publication — plagiarism (and self-plagiarism), fabrication, falsification, citation, authorship and informed consent — illustrated by presenting a pilot study.

CO5CO6

Course outcomes

What you should be able to do after completing all five units (CO1–CO6, from the syllabus).

1
Understand

Explain research methodology and how research applies across architecture — and how it differs from design.

2
Apply

Frame a research problem — aim, objectives, question, hypothesis and variables.

3
Understand

Distinguish the research strategies — qualitative, correlational, experimental, simulation and more.

4
Understand

Plan survey and field studies — pilots, sampling, questionnaires, reliability and validity.

5
Apply

Collect, compile and document data — and present it honestly within research ethics.

6
Apply

Critically analyse data and present a pilot study as a documented piece of research.

The toolkit for studying architecture rigorously (L2 · T0 · S0; 100 marks). Every diagram is original Studio Matrx work; the Cochran sample-size example is arithmetically verified and the common misconceptions are flagged as you go. This course teaches the METHODS; for putting them to work in a dissertation — choosing a topic, the literature review, the prelude to thesis — see the companion Advanced Architectural Research course.

Architecture is not only made — it is studied.

The question, the hypothesis, the seven strategies, the field survey and the ethics of writing it up. Read the five units, study the diagrams, then test yourself.

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