Design Research Methods - SUSD0006

This is a core course aimed at informing students enrolled in the Master of Sustainable Development Program (and other FBE Coursework Masters Degrees, and Research Postgraduates – as an elective) of the range of research methods appropriate to the understanding and design of the built environment. It is intended to assist them in the development of their Workbook Assignments, Graduate Projects, Design Studio Investigations, or Dissertations. Given the complex array of design interrelationships between people and their physical, ecological, economic, socio-spatial and cultural environments which need to be considered by the responsible practitioner, the course ranges widely across applied research strategies – from observation and simulation of buildings and cities to material analyses, building physics, post occupancy evaluation and statistical verification. Historical, theoretical, empirical and phenomenological approaches are elaborated, and both qualitative and quantitative methods addressed.