Architecture Research Methods
When writing long academic body’s of text, we use different research methods to source first and second hand data and cultural context. This post covers the basic foundation of the different ways you might collect primary and secondary information, which can be explored in a greater detail, as well as a listing of sources you can make use of when searching for a specific topic.
Archival Research
Archives are records of transaction and archival research that takes place by looking at original documents that have been maintained throughout the decades for evidence, research and reference purposes. Whilst it can prove the existence of buildings, it also shows us dead ends in history such as ideas that were never realised.
Using archives helps inform us on buildings that were designed decades ago, buildings that never passed the design phase and those that have changed overtime. Nowadays, a lot of buildings have been retrofitted, maintained and redesigned for efficiency and better practicality. It is important to be able to write about these buildings with information from original documents, like planning applications, drawings etc... , which can be sourced from archives. In most cases, you have to make appointments to visit and review these documents. Some examples of archives you can use are:
British Library Oral Archive Collection
RIBA Archive
Historic England Archive
National Archives
New York Public Archive
Canadian Centre for Architecture Archive
Books & E-books:
This is a traditional research method which is used in nearly all studies, whether it’s to do an analytical literature review, reading about the topic context or to find supporting material for your argument or theory. They are easily accessible through libraries and online catalogues, where those of you who are students will even have access to paid catalogues as universities tend to have memberships with these platforms. In the past year, most online libraries have expanded, with more physical books being readily available online than ever before. If there is a specific book you are looking for and you cannot find it in a library, sometimes you can simply type the name into google, followed by PDF, and it will give you options on how to access it for free.
Journals & Articles:
Similarly to books, journals and articles are used often as sources in architectural writing. There are many platforms which they can be found on, for example JSTOR and Google Scholar. where they tend to be written by other academics and scholars based on a study that they have done, so you are referencing another investigation or study, whereas books can be written by authors with interest on topic. In addition to this, journals tend to be shorter and more concise in the information it provides. The term ‘articles’ encapsulates both research based text but also news articles which is a form of media representation, that can be critically commented on as they tend to use either a marketing or critical tone.
Ethnographic Research
Ethnography is defined as the scientific description of people and cultures with their customs, habits, and mutual differences. The term ethnographic research refers to social, cultural and demographic qualitative research carried out during long periods of time (i.e months, years, decades) whilst living and immersing yourself in the community. This is a method of observation and mapping, where data can be collected in forms of photographs, notes, time lapse, on-site diagrams etc… It can also cross over with the qualitative method of interviewing. This data will then be critically analysed looking at patterns and figures.
By visiting a building multiple times over a long period of time you can grow with the building and understand not only a single part of the building but the structure as a whole. Being aware of all the small details that we touch, see, hear and smell as well as the site itself in the multiple visits. For example, if your research is on a public building, you can sit outside that building for 30 minutes every day for a month, to record the flow of people and the different demographics that interact with the building, using maps, photographs and video footage.
A more detailed understanding of an ethnographic study might look at the space from a local person's point of view, analysing the behaviour and language of individuals.
Focus Groups:
Holding focus groups is a primary source of collecting information on your desired topic and it is held in the format of a discussion. The session is usually made up of multiple volunteers, who have been informed that this is for a study, to converse over prompt questions and statements that you would ideally prepare in advance. The intentions of organising a focus group should not be to get a single answer that you interpret as fact, but it should be used as a tool to see the different points of view and the opinions of the group they speak for. It is a quick and easy research method, so you would aim to hold more than one session to form a more representative cohort. Focus groups are regarded as a bottom-up research method which would be good to pair up with a top-down.
Interviews
Interviews are one of the most effective ways of collecting qualitative research. It involves second party participation which requires a lot of planning, but the product can contribute massively to your research. The questions you pose will encourage detailed answers that describe the interviewees' thoughts which you can discuss in your research, even if they are contradictory. You can conduct an interview in person, through the internet or even over the phone.
There are different interviews that you can conduct. An unstructured interview, a semi-structured interview or a structured interview. Depending on the type of interview you chose to do, you might need to prepare questions with closed questions, to get precise answers, or open questions that will allow the interviewee to expand on their answer.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is the collection of data in the form of numbers and figures in comparison to qualitative data which analyses words. This method of researching is typically used in surveys of buildings and people, as well as in questionnaires. Quantitative data could also be extracted from government documents such as Census, to analyse and comment on demographic, economic and social cohorts, which affect the site, the community, the individuals using the building and much more. The data collected can be represented in the form of percentages, figurative cohorts (e.g age cohorts), diagrams etc...
I hope this post is useful to many of you when writing architectural essays for the first time. As I previously mentioned, the points I summarised in this post are just some of the many methods you can use. If you are interested in exploring more research methods, you can look further into this (e.g. historical & correlational research). Let us know what you thought about this post on our Instagram @archidabble and make sure to follow us to make the most of our Instagram content posted every Monday.
