What is methodology?
“Methodology” implies more than simply the methods you intend to use to collect data. It is often necessary to include a consideration of the concepts and theories which underlie the methods.
(Available at: [online] http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/assessment_evaluation/dissertations/methodology.html)
In this blog, I'm going to post about my research methodology which I had used in my dissertation. First of all, the main intention of my dissertation mainly debates around the effectiveness of the climatic design between the terraced house and the Malay traditional house. As we know, the main characteristic of Malay traditional houses is that they are designed with a deep understanding and respect for nature, but this design-with-nature approach is no longer found in the terraced houses which they have used more advanced green technology. The issues of this dissertation revolves around the application of the climatic design in terraced houses and traditional house due to the tropical climate in Malaysia as well as how effective and successfulness of the adaptation of climatic design concept in both of the houses. The following issues will also be argued in this dissertation:
Step 1 : Site Visit
What is it useful for?
Site visit will enable you to examine the solution firsthand and find out what the people using it think about it. It is very difficult to visualize a space / a building without actually seeing it.
This study focuses on the qualitative climatic design of Malay traditional house as well as the modern terraced house. The chosen study area is located in Kuala Lumpur, which is pretty close to the Equator, whereby hot and humid conditions are emphasized with heavy rain fall and sunshine throughout the year. Kuala Lumpur was selected because the Malay ethnic is majority in this area. Both of the selected sites are located in the same area and same climatic. This will be fairer on the comparison of the climatic design issues such as materials used, roof design, openings, interior and exterior layout.
This is helpful in data gathering as Malays generally have a basic understanding about the traditional house which could contribute valuable information to the analysis in the following chapter. Analysis will also be carried out on the Malays' perception towards the climatic design of the Malay traditional house as compared to the modern terraced house.
The aim of this visit is to identify the climatic design concept in terraced house in terms of the ventilation, natural sunlight, shades, and etc as compared to Malay houses. This will allow more possible solutions such as adapting the climatic concept to improve the terraced housing designs. Through out the site visit, it had provided a better and deep understanding of the importance of climate consideration in housing design in terms of the layout and the structure of the building.
Step 2 : Interviewing & Questionnaires
Interviewing and survey questionnaire from the dweller has been selected as the most appropriate method in carrying out this residential research. This method is chosen based on the consideration of the following factors:
Interview and survey questionnaire was found to be very informative as the homeowner will not only give a brief history and descriptions of the houses but also give glimpse into their life, how they feel about the ventilation, the shades and the comfort of the house and their opinion of the climatic design concept of the house. The descriptions were all hand written in a script to assist the researcher in analysis since most of the respondents prefer on this method. As for the survey questionnaire, it will be distribute through email to the respondents as it is a convenient method. Photographs of the sites which the application of climatic design concept were also taken whenever allowed.
Step 3 : Secondary Research such as books, website and dissertations from others
Through the secondary sources such as books, website and etc, it could help in analysing the concept of a building. Building context is used to study the climatic design in a building which could provide a deeper understanding about the climatic design concept. Case studies through website was found to be very informative as they could proof that the concept does works in an actual building and enable us to studies how was the concept works on the building.
Those are the research methods I've applied to my dissertation. They are really a good methods for collecting data and information in order for you to do analysing.
“Methodology” implies more than simply the methods you intend to use to collect data. It is often necessary to include a consideration of the concepts and theories which underlie the methods.
(Available at: [online] http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/assessment_evaluation/dissertations/methodology.html)
In this blog, I'm going to post about my research methodology which I had used in my dissertation. First of all, the main intention of my dissertation mainly debates around the effectiveness of the climatic design between the terraced house and the Malay traditional house. As we know, the main characteristic of Malay traditional houses is that they are designed with a deep understanding and respect for nature, but this design-with-nature approach is no longer found in the terraced houses which they have used more advanced green technology. The issues of this dissertation revolves around the application of the climatic design in terraced houses and traditional house due to the tropical climate in Malaysia as well as how effective and successfulness of the adaptation of climatic design concept in both of the houses. The following issues will also be argued in this dissertation:
- How can the climatic design concept work with the houses?
- What is the positive and negative impact of adaptation of the Malay houses design elements into the modern terraced houses?
- Will the concept of climatic design in traditional house able to imply into the terraced houses due to the hot and humid climate in Malaysia?
Step 1 : Site Visit
What is it useful for?
Site visit will enable you to examine the solution firsthand and find out what the people using it think about it. It is very difficult to visualize a space / a building without actually seeing it.
This study focuses on the qualitative climatic design of Malay traditional house as well as the modern terraced house. The chosen study area is located in Kuala Lumpur, which is pretty close to the Equator, whereby hot and humid conditions are emphasized with heavy rain fall and sunshine throughout the year. Kuala Lumpur was selected because the Malay ethnic is majority in this area. Both of the selected sites are located in the same area and same climatic. This will be fairer on the comparison of the climatic design issues such as materials used, roof design, openings, interior and exterior layout.
This is helpful in data gathering as Malays generally have a basic understanding about the traditional house which could contribute valuable information to the analysis in the following chapter. Analysis will also be carried out on the Malays' perception towards the climatic design of the Malay traditional house as compared to the modern terraced house.
The aim of this visit is to identify the climatic design concept in terraced house in terms of the ventilation, natural sunlight, shades, and etc as compared to Malay houses. This will allow more possible solutions such as adapting the climatic concept to improve the terraced housing designs. Through out the site visit, it had provided a better and deep understanding of the importance of climate consideration in housing design in terms of the layout and the structure of the building.
Step 2 : Interviewing & Questionnaires
Interviewing and survey questionnaire from the dweller has been selected as the most appropriate method in carrying out this residential research. This method is chosen based on the consideration of the following factors:
- Fast data collection
- Time constraint factor
- Accessibility
Interview and survey questionnaire was found to be very informative as the homeowner will not only give a brief history and descriptions of the houses but also give glimpse into their life, how they feel about the ventilation, the shades and the comfort of the house and their opinion of the climatic design concept of the house. The descriptions were all hand written in a script to assist the researcher in analysis since most of the respondents prefer on this method. As for the survey questionnaire, it will be distribute through email to the respondents as it is a convenient method. Photographs of the sites which the application of climatic design concept were also taken whenever allowed.
Step 3 : Secondary Research such as books, website and dissertations from others
Through the secondary sources such as books, website and etc, it could help in analysing the concept of a building. Building context is used to study the climatic design in a building which could provide a deeper understanding about the climatic design concept. Case studies through website was found to be very informative as they could proof that the concept does works in an actual building and enable us to studies how was the concept works on the building.
Those are the research methods I've applied to my dissertation. They are really a good methods for collecting data and information in order for you to do analysing.