Methods and strategies for bridging the design practitioner-researcher gap

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to confirm there is a continuing application gap by identifying current attitudes of design practitioners to the usefulness of EBR, preferred forms of communication of EBR, and reasons for lack of use of EBR. To achieve this goal, a survey instrument was developed and distributed to practicing architects whose demographics closely mimicked those from a previous study by Schmidt (1984). Responses were recorded, confirmed, transformed in to statistically significant sets then analyzed and compared to like data sets from two previous studies on the application gap - Schmidt (1984) and Merrill (1973). The study findings provide insight in to the perceptions held by practitioners about EBR - specifically its usefulness, preferred forms of communication, and why they may not use EBR. These findings, when compared to two previous studies by Schmidt (1984) and Merrill (1973), and supported by findings from Karpan (2005), show little change in attitude of design practitioners towards EBR - they believe EBR useful but rarely use it. The implication of the results from the current study suggests further study needs to occur before this application gap can be bridged. Suggestions on how to bridge the application gap are included in this study and range from support of suggestions from Schmidt, Merrill, and Karpan as well as proposing new considerations.