Research Methods for AEC — Design Guide

Use this to choose and justify a method, and to make designs rigorous and defensible. AEC research is methodologically pluralistic (engineering experiments to social-science surveys to design science) — match method to question, then enforce that method's validity standards.

1. From question to design

• Formulate the question with a framework:
  • PICO/PICOC (intervention/effect): Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (, Context).
  • PCC (scoping): Population, Concept, Context.
  • SPIDER (qualitative): Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type.
  • FINER test (is the question Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant?).
• Classify the aim: exploratory / descriptive / explanatory / predictive / design-and-evaluate.
• Pick the paradigm honestly: positivist (measure/test), interpretivist (understand/meaning), pragmatist (mixed, problem-driven), design science (build & evaluate an artifact).