A typology of designs for housing research : improving methodological coherence of paradigm, approach and design

Abstract

Housing research is interdisciplinary involving economics, geography, sociology, architecture, and urban planning and design. It relies strongly on the social and applied sciences, and is therefore subject to policy, theoretical and methodological shifts across these sciences, as well as societal and technological change. These shifts and changes necessitate an expansion and refinement of the traditional spectrum of research designs regarded applicable to housing research, and more careful consideration of concomitant epistemologies and methodologies. We review the methodological literature within housing research, assess the extent to which different designs feature in current housing research, and, using methodological paradigm and core logic as classification criteria, present an expanded and more nuanced typology of designs consisting of 11 prototypes and 42 subtypes. The prototypes include surveys and censuses, experiments, modelling and mapping, textual and narrative studies, field studies, case studies, participatory action research, mixed-method research, intervention research, evaluation research, and meta-research. The typology may serve as a framework for further methodological inquiry and as a heuristic map for researchers to be more creative and considered when designing housing research.