RESEARCH PRESENTATION OULTINE
Identify your topic in no more than two sentences: “Here’s what I wanted to know and why I wanted to know it
Are graduating interior design students aware of finish material health implications. Basically, I was curious if students graduating now are educated about toxins in finishes.
2. Identify the methods you used:
a. Archival research – what did the readings you reviewed teach you and what was missing from that analysis: Choose two points that you read about that you decided to address
For my archival research, I examined what the council for interior design accreditation was requiring of interior design programs currently when it comes to finish materials. A major review of standards only occurs every 8-10 years. Also, lack of information in the state of the interior design profession guide, only 2 essays mentioned anything about sustainability in interior design.
Observations / Interviews / Focus Groups / Questionnaires / Card Sort / Experiments: Give your colleagues a sense of why you used the methods and not another e.g. WHAT did you do?
I developed a questionnaire which was intended to be distributed to all the seniors in CIDA accredited Interior design programs in the northeast (NY, NJ, PA, MA)
Sample: WHO? WHERE? WHY?.
I got 17 responses from the 24 design programs I reached out to. 1 of the responses was eliminated as the student was not graduating this spring. 88% of the respondents actually had some experience, mainly internships.
Identify your results and how they taught you something and how they surprised you: Choose two or three things MAX to talk about and let people know how they can learn about the other things that you learned-- on your blog site.
Unfortunately, I did not get enough responses to really draw definitive conclusions however I was surprised by some of the responses. I initially expected that the graduating students would not know about material toxins but it turned out that some did have knowledge.
For instance when asked what PBT stood for, 5 of the 17 respondents chose persistant boaccumulative toxin and 2 of those respondents actually referenced a class as the source of their understanding of the phrase.
Where I was really disappointed was in reading responses to the questions I asked: How do interior designers’ decisions impact the health, safety, and welfare of the public? And How do finishes specified by interior designers affect the health, safety, and welfare of the public?
Some of the students who replied seemed very passionate saying things like “Every decision we make has an impact through planning, materials, and finishes chosen.” “Any part of design that come into contact with the general public needs to be considered for its health and safety. Designers decisions needs to be mindful of health + safety.” However, these same students
One response really impressed me: “Avoiding materials high in toxins, reducing slipping hazards, making sure correct flammability guidelines are met, and aiding in the preservation of the natural environment through sustainable choices to name a few.” However this student had 2 years of experience in an architectural firms doing mainly commercial buildings and interiors.
Identify the challenges with question development, methods and sample: I know that all of you began this process later than desirable, and it is important to learn from that. It isn’t enough to say I started too late to get adequate data…You need to learn from this and use it to explain why your sample may be a good or poor match for the hypothesis or data you are seeking. And it isn’t enough to say there wasn’t enough time. Research combined with professional practice is time consuming, but we have an ethical obligation to do it, and an obligation to our clients and to the sustainable planet to do it… so how do you use this to integrate research in your professional practice?
I don’t know if this is a coincidence but the four individually volunteered responses came from students who all had some awareness of finish toxins. The students who filled out a survey manually when handed out by their professor and then collected, had more varying responses.
Challenges
-Interpreting the written responses and truly understanding their intent. I do not want to assume but responses were not adequate to understand the student’s level of knowledge. An interview may have been helpful however this approach would have other limitations.
-Synthesizing data into paper
5. How does what you learned help you move toward thesis? How will this help you address that issue we have discussed, “that all good research raises more questions than it answers”?
My research did help me shift my thesis. I originally stated my thesis as ‘health implications of finish materials are not truly understood by student graduating from interior design schools.” Now my thesis has developed into…in order to truly prepare interior design students to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, design curriculum’s need to be adjusted to reflect integrated approach in which all facets of health, safety, and welfare are presented comprehensive package.
___________________________________________________________________________________Proposal Update
So things have changed since my last semester. I have changed my topic to relate to our capstone project for next year. I have decided to try to gauge the awareness graduating interior design students have of the health implications associated with some finish materials. Here is how it is developing:
Type of Research:
Deductive
The Hypothesis:
It is believed that the students will have little awareness of the human impacts associated with interior finish materials.
The Population:
Cluster piolet sample of interior design students graduating in 2012 from CIDA accredited programs in the northest
The Method:
Survey resulting in quantitative and qualitative data
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So the research has begun and I am truly enjoying it. It is really a pleasure to see where ideas are connected and what type of research is going on in our design field. I keep running into website I would love to share with you all. Here is the beginning of a hopefully long running list of resources I've found helpful.
Michael,
Check out the International Acadamey for Design and Health if you haven't already. I think this could be a great resource for you:
http://www.designandhealth.com/Media-Publishing/Papers.aspx
American Institue of Architects
http://network.aia.org/Resources/AllLibraries/
Cascadia Green Building Council
http://cascadiagbc.org/education/finance-initiative/articles-1
Contract Magazine
http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/design/Green-Design-Ideas-123.shtml
National Geographic
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/greendex/
Healthy Building
http://www.healthybuilding.net/
Green Building Research Center
http://greenbuildings.berkeley.edu/design.htm
Center for the Built Environment
http://www.cbe.berkeley.edu/research/publications.htm
Elsevier
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/homepage.cws_home
