CRASSH

Innovation in research is often an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process, and often established research methods from one discipline can be beneficially transferred to another; however, there are issues involved with such transference, and this conference will explore them as well as the methods themselves. The traditional boundaries of a discipline often encourage conservative approaches to research methodologies, and this conference intends to assist researchers with the production of rich and robust research methodology suites to make the best possible use of the opportunity for disciplinary exchange that graduate-level study allows. Graduate students are invited to explain the methods they have used, to outline what worked well, and to dispassionately assess what was less successful, with a focus on outlining commonalities across disciplines.

Many built environment researchers are becoming more interested in the human-centred aspects of their work as it becomes clear that technical solutions are limited in their uptake through social or cultural factors; this is a central theme of Taking stock: Methods for built environment research.

Work across disciplines often attracts potent criticism, and this conference intends to help researchers develop networks of peers for future review and to critique work in a neutral atmosphere, with the intent of creating strong and defensible research.

Major strands

An overview of the divide between soft and hard sciences:
The epistemological status of the scientific method and the different worldviews present in built environment research.

Socio-cultural and human-centred approaches to built environment:
Observational, fieldwork, sociological and other techniques as applied.

Specific techniques and theory of method:
Opportunities for beneficial transfer of methods from other disciplines.

Practice/experience:
Practical applications of methods and their results with reflections on that work