bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Distance Education for Interior Design: A Needs Assessment
Authors: Ali Yousri , DiCicco David B.
Published: June 2008

Issue

By the year 2000, over 50% of all college students will be non–traditional, that is, over 25 years old, married, and working. Traditional higher education delivery systems limit non–traditional students’ access to education. Distance education offers an opportunity for increased access to higher education for non–traditional students. How can interior design programs implement distance education pedagogy?

Goal

This report discusses the potential of distance education to respond to the changing demography of students, decreasing university resources, and developing educational technologies.

Application

A tool for interior design educators and administrators to assess distance education's potential to enrich interior design curricula is developed.

Description

This report provides a needs assessment strategy for interior design programs considering implementation of distance education. A needs assessment is the first of four stages associated with the decision to implement distance education into an interior design program. The other three stages—delivery technology options, interactivity, and faculty participation/development—are subjects for future discussions.

Conclusion

Distance education provides a method for addressing the needs of non–traditional students and may offer an opportunity to enhance interior design education through resource sharing.
Comparison of Occupational Expectations between Interior Design Students and Practitioners
Authors: Lee Kyung J. , Hagerty William H.
Published: June 2008

Objective

The objective of this study was to determine occupational expectations of interior design students for an entry–level design position and to compare them with the occupational expectations of interior design practitioners. Occupational expectations were defined as survey respondents’ perceptions about general work conditions, work relations, job success, and specific tasks performed in their future profession.

Research Design

A survey of 140 students in all levels of interior design classes was conducted at two universities. The survey questionnaire consisted of three parts to determine preferences and expectations of respondents in terms of general work environment and specific tasks. Eighty–two interior design practitioners throughout the United States were also surveyed with the same questionnaire to determine their occupational expectations for an entry–level design position and to compare them with students’ expectations.

Analysis

The responses for each statement or task were analyzed for frequency distributions, percentages, and mean scores where applicable. For statistical analyses of the data, Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) and t tests were used to evaluate differences in ratings between upper division students (juniors and seniors) and lower division students (freshmen and sophomores). The same methods were applied for a comparison of responses between upper division students and interior design practitioners.

Key Findings

Results of the study indicated that, in general, upper division students had more realistic occupational expectations of an entry–level designer position than lower division students. However, upper division students significantly differed from interior design practitioners in their expectations in three categories: Working Conditions, General Work Type, and Business/Management.

Conclusion

The findings of this study indicated that there was a difference between the occupational expectations of students and practitioners for an entry–level designer position. For students to gain more realistic views of their future profession, further research was recommended to determine appropriate curriculum guidelines for undergraduate education in interior design.
An Interior Design Experience Program, Part II: Developing the Experiences
Authors: Harwood Buie
Published: June 2008

Objectives

The goal of this project was to develop a structured work experience program for entry–level interior designers. The objectives of this study were (a) to identify the scope of experiences related to interior design practice and (b) to establish a priority of importance for the experiences. These provided the contextual framework for the structure and content of the program. Three additional objectives were (c) to assess practitioners’ willingness to assist entry–level interior designers in obtaining work experience, (d) to determine what experiences could be offered by firms, and (e) to pretest the proposed experience program to assess the effectiveness of its processes and mechanics.

Research Design

A multi–methodological approach was used to meet the objectives. First, a comprehensive review of studies on interior design practice was competed. Second, a survey of practitioners further elaborated on these experiences and provided an assessment of practitioners’ willingness to assist with the program. Third, a pretest of the proposed program was completed.

Analysis

The data collected were qualitatively evaluated. A matrix was developed to assess experiences based on their priority of importance to interior design practice, frequency of activity in practice, participant time recorded performing tasks, and the value of the experience. Evaluations of this matrix were solicited from the project advisory board, entry–level interior designers, and consultants.

Key Findings

This study developed and articulated the scope of experiences for entry–level interior designers who, after college graduation, would participate in a formal apprenticeship program called the Interior Design Experience Program (IDEP). Task content areas and their value units were developed.

Conclusion

This study provides common terminology, definitions, and scope of experiences for a structured work experience program that links the standards and guidelines established by the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER) and the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) to professional practice. It also provides valuable information for assessing all experiences related to the career path of professional interior designers, particularly in regard to the NCIDQ eligibility requirements.
Wandering Behavior Associated with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: Implications for Designers
Authors: Dickinson Joan , McLain–Kark Joan
Published: June 2008

Issue

A challenge facing the profession of interior design is to create special care units in extended care facilities that accommodate wandering, a major behavioral symptom of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Goal

This report informs interior design educators about the symptom of wandering, provides design ideas to accommodate the behavior in a safe and supportive environment, and suggests questions for further research.

Application

Designers can play a major role in insuring the safety and well being of wanderers through careful planning of the interior environment.

Description

Wandering is a major symptom of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. In the past, individuals living in institutional settings have been restricted through restraint or medication. This often resulted in increased resident agitation. Today, care givers want to accommodate residents who wander yet still provide for their safety. Reasons for wandering are discussed and the patterns of wandering are described to give design educators an understanding of this phenomenon. Research is presented regarding strategies for discouraging unsafe exiting of the unit during wandering episodes. Finally, case studies and examples of current design solutions that accommodate wandering are discussed.

Conclusion

Interior design educators will be able to use this information to help students understand wandering behavior and recognize the need to critically review the current literature when designing special care units for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Interior Design Dissertations, Theses, and Creative Projects
Authors: DeLaski–Smith Deborah
Published: June 2008

Graduate students’ work is an important resource in building the body of knowledge for the profession of interior design. To develop an awareness of the research being conducted at the graduate level in interior design programs, the following list was compiled by the IDEC Graduate Education Network.

Each year a list of recently completed dissertations, theses, and creative projects is compiled and submitted for publication in JID. Interior design programs responding to the network's request for information are listed. The present list represents submittals for 1995 and those for 1994 that had not been previously listed.
Uncovering Implicit Theories of Creativity in Beginning Design Students
Authors: Portillo Margaret
Published: June 2008

Objectives

An exploratory study examined the theories and understanding beginning design students have about creativity and their own creative processes.

Research Design

A qualitative approach was used to identify implicit theories of creativity in design students through their responses to 5 inter–disciplinary assignments. Creative partnering assignments for an introductory design studio and a first–year English composition class were developed and given to 39 participating students over the course of a semester. After completing the writing and/or drawing portion of each assignment, the students exchanged their responses via electronic mail.

Analysis

A content analysis of the assignments and responses explored relationships and identified implicit theories.

Key Findings

Assignments that emphasized real life cases of creativity appeared effective in enabling the students to articulate their implicit theories. Students perceived creativity as person, process, product, and place and saw relationships among these variables.

Conclusions

Enabling students to realize their creative potential is essential to growth and innovation in the interior design profession.
Furniture as Artifact: An Investigative Model
Authors: Williams–Bohle Diane , Caughey Carol C.
Published: June 2008

Issue

Furniture historians no longer are content with descriptions of furniture but are looking for ways to read or interpret these descriptions. Researchers recognize that both the generally accepted furniture icons and vernacular furniture can reveal valuable cultural insights. Emphasis now is on the significance of furniture beyond its stylistic attributes, utilitarian character, and commercial value. This significance rests largely in its ability to carry and communicate cultural meaning.

Goal

A model was developed to provide the researcher with a multi–disciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative framework for data collection and analysis of furniture as it relates to cultural meaning.

Application

Students of furniture history can utilize the model to explore the cultural meaning of a piece of furniture. This model can also be used by historical researchers as a framework for analysis of artifacts without documentation.

Description

The model uses 6 topics of inquiry including material, construction, design, function, value, and provenance as a framework for investigating the artifact. The process of investigation involves direct, detailed, sensory observation of the artifact, followed by the gathering of supplementary data, interpretation of cultural symbols, and finally, creative speculation about its cultural meaning.

Conclusions

Unique because it recognizes the iterative nature of data collection and data analysis, the model is structured to provide conceptual continuity necessary to the understanding of the rich cultural insights reflected by furniture.
Les Sept Princesses: A Vienna Discovery Renews Interest in the Art and Collaborative Interiors of Margaret Macdonald
Authors: Parkinson Sharran R.
Published: June 2008

Objective

The objective of this study is to analyze the importance of the collaborative interiors that Margaret Macdonald designed with her husband Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Special emphasis is placed on the Waerndorfer music room installation (1906–1907) and Macdonald's gesso panels Les Sept Princesses designed specifically for this space.

Research Design

Using photographs and a comprehensive review of primary and secondary sources descriptive of the Waerndorfer music room, a likely original placement of the panels in the space is suggested and the panels are analyzed for selected design attributes that are similar to the interior architecture.

Analysis

Elements to be formally analyzed include the dominant use of neutral colors enhanced by typical motifs; the asymmetrical placement of rectilinear form; the balancing of decorative detailing and highly finished paint employed on plain surfaces; the relevance of symbols used within the Mackintosh interiors; and a description of the symbols used by Macdonald in the Waerndorfer panels, many of which were influenced by Maurice Maeterlinck's play Les Sept Princesses.

Key Findings

The collaborative relationship between Macdonald and Mackintosh was important to the stylistic development of their interiors. Macdonald successfully integrated the decorative theme of the panels with the interior architecture through the shared use of design elements and symbolic motifs. Although Macdonald's visual composition embodies the poetic and evocative values of Maeterlinck's play, the panels still are consciously ornamental and designed specifically to complement the interior.

Conclusions

The use of symbolic ornamentation in the Waerndorfer music room interior should be viewed as an organizational methodology. Within the microcosm of the interior, the designers used symbolism and ionic meaning as a parti to control form, furnishings, decorative features, and panels designed in concert with Maeterlinck's literary theme.
The Language of Beauty and the Modern Interior: An Approach to Aesthetic Criticism
Authors: Beecher Mary Anne
Published: June 2008

Objective

This article presents a critical evaluation of images of the popular American modern environment of the 1940s.

Theoretical Framework

Using content analysis and a close semiological reading of representative images and phrases, the spaces of the modern interior environment in the context of the philosophical writings of Burke (1756), Kant (1790), Ruskin (1849), Downing (1865) and Turner (1991) are examined. Works by these philosophers collectively establish a connection between the concepts of beauty, nature, and the feminine that results in the construction of a language of beauty used to market modern design in popular women's periodicals.

Analysis

The Better Homes and Gardens‘ series entitled “Tomorrow You Can Live Like This” (1944–45) is used to represent modern design for this analysis. Eleven well–known architects and designers submitted designs for this series to promote modern design in American popular culture. The spaces published as part of this series share common characteristics including multi–functionalism, a lack of extraneous ornamentation, and non–traditional spatial definition. These characteristics are translated metaphorically into the concepts of freshness, simplicity, and flexibility.

Key Findings

The connection formed between cultural understanding of the concept of beauty and modern design was used to strengthen the appeal of modernism to the American public. In place of the emphasis on functionalism promoted by high–style designers, the use of language connected the qualities of freshness, simplicity, and flexibility found in modern design to culturally–based notions regarding aesthetics.

Conclusions

Understanding perceptions of the modern interior from a female user/consumer vantage point is significant in providing an inclusive approach to assessing the meaning of interior environments from outside of the designer's point of view and for demonstrating the importance of women as consumers of design in the post–war period.
The Design of Shared Social Spaces in Assisted Living Residences for Older Adults
Authors: Zavotka Susan L. , Teaford Margaret H.
Published: June 2008

Objective

This study addressed older adults’ psycho–social needs in relation to assisted living shared spaces. It examined part of a Social Space Attachment Model that hypothesized that assisted living designs that match residents’ previous homes lead to greater life satisfaction.

Research Design

Residents at 11 assisted living facilities were interviewed. Information about demographics, psychological and physical status, ratings and use of social spaces, and previous homes was gathered. Lobbies, lounges, and dining rooms at each site were assessed.

Analysis

Means and percentages were used to compare furnishing styles, colors, and accessories at previous homes and assisted living facilities. Regression and correlation analyses were used to determine relationships for private, personal and homelike ratings, formality match, use of spaces, and psycho–social variables with residents’ life satisfaction scores.

Key Findings

Assisted living interiors were more formal and used different colors and less personal accessories than previous homes. Residents rated social spaces as not private, not personal, and not homelike. Residents with higher life satisfaction scores were more likely to live in facilities where formality was similar to their previous homes, spend time in the lobbies, and rate them as personal.

Conclusions

For older adults to become attached to and use assisted living social spaces, interior designs must relate to past experiences. Designs should usually include semi–formal or informal traditional styles, more familiar colors, personal accessories, and opportunities for privacy.
Prejudice as an Obstacle to Multiculturalism in the Teaching of Design History
Authors: Drab Theodore
Published: June 2008

The traditional approach to teaching interior design history is an examination of the dominant styles developed by and for politically dominant groups within western European societies. This approach emphasizes the unity of cultures and conflicts with the concepts of diversity and multiculturalism prevalent in American higher education. It also ignores contributions to design history by a variety of important ethnic groups. The goal of this discussion is to increase educators’ awareness of subtle and overt preiudice contained in design history literature. This prejudice is against ethnic groups that made significant contributions and comprise a large portion of the American populace.

By adopting standard texts and assigning readings from major works, teachers of interior design history may be perceived by students as champions of the status quo and opponents of multiculturalism, and they may be identified with the narrow Eurocentrism evident in the work of many significant historians. Interior design history texts currently used by American colleges and universities were reviewed to identify prejudice in the literature that creates obstacles to multiculturalism. The means by which design contributions of some ethnic groups are marginalized, devalued, or ignored are highlighted. Rather than avoiding texts that display prejudice yet provide important information and insight, teachers can broaden student understanding of the nature of historiography by discussing these subtle and overt prejudices. They can stress the vitality of historiography as a process that constantly reevaluates and reinterprets the past's impact on the present, stimulating student interest in and appreciation for nondominant groups.
Cultural History as a Thematic Study: Analyzing Advertisements to Interpret American Home Design
Authors: Patton Angela H. , Zinkhan George M.
Published: June 2008

The traditional approach to teaching the history of interior design is through study of the decorative arts and architecture. This confines design to artifacts of high culture and visual discourse. We are interested in expanding the history of interior design beyond appearances and artifact to include the social and cultural forces that shape the design process. We offer an interdisciplinary approach for the study of design history. In particular, we present links between marketing and design. Studying design history through marketing and consumer culture provides valuable insight into design that is not available through the decorative arts and architecture. Advertising has played a central role in shaping the American home aesthetic. By examining advertisements as cultural artifacts, we come to a new understanding about design and its history.
Twentieth–Century Furniture as Precedent: Creating a Dialogue between History and Design in Furniture Design Studio
Authors: King Janine
Published: June 2008

Objective

Within the accreditation standards of the Foundation for Interior Design Education and Research (FIDER), there is more emphasis on teaching individual knowledge categories than on course work that synthesizes and critically applies different knowledge types. This study explores a teaching method that helps students synthesize knowledge and use critical thinking when solving design problems.

Research Design

An undergraduate furniture design course provided a case study to examine how historically inspired projects improve students' abilities to critically apply various knowledge types to the design process. The course had 2 parts: a 6-week precedent project in which the students built a historic 20th-century furniture piece, using critical thinking to make connections between thinking, designing and making, and a 10-week design project in which the students applied new knowledge gained through this experience when designing and making their own furniture pieces.

Analysis

Students' design processes, their evaluations of the course, and comments by outside reviewers were used to qualitatively assess the project's effectiveness.

Key Findings

The analysis confirmed that the precedent project helped improve students' use of critical thinking when designing.

Conclusion

Although critical thinking plays an important role in the design process and scholars believe that this ability is a valuable competency for professionals, FIDER does not explicitly evaluate this area of instruction. Explicit evaluation of how interior design programs teach critical thinking as part of design problem solving could encourage educators to focus instruction on developing this valuable skill.
Alternative Models of the Past: History/Theory/Criticism Courses
Authors: Beecher Mary Anne
Published: June 2008

Issue

Recent literature on effective history teaching encourages reconsidering linear cause–and–effect presentations of course content. The importance of linking historical information with theoretical and critical perspectives can take several forms beyond chronology.

Goal

Present alternative options for organizing history of interiors courses around theoretical issues.

Application

History content should be presented in an accessible, applicable, and analytical manner. Focusing the history of interiors on theoretical approaches to defining interior space helps connect history with design activity. Emphasizing the relationship between stylistic development and cultural influences encourages students to appreciate the expressiveness of details and materials and their relationship to the creative process.

Description

In this article, an exploration is presented of how two sequential history courses can be developed to meet the requirements of an accredited interior design program using alternative theoretical frameworks.

Conclusion

Acceptance of the concept that history can be configured in many different ways opens the door for alternative models that merge with the interior design program's specific goals and objectives. Focusing on themes rather than chronology can make the theoretical concepts illustrated by history less isolated from the present and more applicable to students’ current studio work. Emphasizing a critical view of past designs encourages students to become more literate visual judges of the works of others, and by implication, their own work.
Developing a Methodology for Assessing Children's Preferences for Nonresidential Interior Spaces
Authors: Dickson Ann , White Allison Carll
Published: June 2008

Objective

The focus of this study was to develop a methodology for the assessment of the environmental preferences of 10–year–old children for public interior spaces. A pilot study using the methodology developed was conducted on 31 10–year old children.

Research Design

The methodology developed included three instruments: a Slide Preference Test to determine overall preference; a Semantic Differential Scale to determine influential factors in defining preference; and the use of the School–Age Temperament Inventory (McClowry, 1995) to determine the relationship between temperament and preference.

Analysis

Data from the pilot study were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor, and cluster analysis, and T–tests to determine overall preference and the relationship that gender, temperament, or room function has with preference.

Key Findings

Children prefer spaces that are visually rich. Further, it appears that preference for interior spaces is related to the concepts of comfort, safeness, and friendliness. Minor differences in preference were found based on gender, while the pilot study revealed more significant differences in preference based on temperament.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of the pilot study, some revisions in the methodology are recommended. With these minor changes, the methodology will be ready for use on a broader and more diverse population.
Development of Interior Design Career Information for Dissemination to Students in Grades Six through Eight
Authors: Clemons Stephanie
Published: June 2008

Issue

The profession of interior design is not well represented in the K–12 grade levels. There is a need to foster a greater awareness of interior design as a possible career during the years when exploration of potential career paths are encouraged and investigated.

Goal

The goal of this project was to develop a method for educating sixth–through eighth– grade students, potential interior designers, and the future general public, about the role an interior designer plays in the built environment. The focus was on residential design, one career path available as an interior design professional.

Application

A pictorial storybook illustrates the design process and construction of a private residence for sixth–through eighth–grade students to use while investigating careers concerning the built environment.

Description

A storybook was developed on the computer and transferred to compact disk (CD) for dissemination by career counselors and media specialists to sixth– through eighth–grade students. Over 35 careers in the building and construction industry, including interior design, were highlighted in the design and construction of a private residence.

Conclusion

Often, the interior design profession is not well represented or accurately portrayed for K–12 audiences. Elementary and secondary education students are the future consumers in society, the clients in higher education, and the future educators and leaders of the profession. Interested interior design educators and practitioners can provide materials for use in the K–12 communities.
Collaborative Design: “Forming, Storming, and Norming”
Authors: Russ Randall , Dickinson Joan
Published: June 2008

Issue

A lack of collaboration with other design disciplines is a problem encountered by many interior design education programs across the country.

Goal

The goal was to broaden interior design student's exposure to two other design disciplines: architecture and landscape architecture.

Application

Students and faculty can no longer afford to work in isolation as companies are increasingly seeking collaborative efforts to solve their problems. In response to this need, students from architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture were grouped in interdisciplinary teams in a collaborative design course.

Description

The literature on the advantages and disadvantages of collaborative teamwork are reviewed. Given the advantages associated with teamwork, the development of the collaborative design course is described along with student reactions upon completion of the course.

Conclusion

Student responses reiterated the advantages and disadvantages of working in teams. More importantly, students understood the importance of being exposed to collaborative design efforts.
Stories of Co–Op: Reflections in a Professional Practice Course
Authors: Black Ann L.
Published: June 2008

Teaching professional practice courses can be successful when students have co–ops, internships, or professional work experiences on which to reflect. The unique co–op system at the University of Cincinnati means students bring one and a half years of work experience in professional offices to the course for reflection and analysis through the co–op story and analysis assignment. The goal of the assignment, and the course in general, is to look at key business issues through the students’ experiences and to share those experiences with the class.

The class covers a range of business topics. During each class meeting students are encouraged to share their co–op experiences and the assignment requires that they focus on one particular situation to cover more deeply through narrative methods.

Using the co–op experience for reflection in the academic setting affords students the opportunity to fully explore those ill–structured situations in which they find themselves. Educators employing narrative assignments can help students process and learn from their experiences. As a result, students are better equipped to analyze and respond to the workplace as they move from academia to the interior design profession.
The Relationship between Learning Styles and Visualization Skills among Interior Design Students
Authors: Nussbaumer Linda L. , Guerin Denise A.
Published: June 2008

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine if learning styles were an influencing factor on visualization skills among interior design students.

Research Design

A sample of 578 interior design students from thirteen universities who were enrolled in interior design courses between fall of 1997 and spring of 1999 completed a biographical data sheet, Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, and Isham's visualization skills test.

Analysis

Frequencies, means, and percentages were used to analyze the data. A two–way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test these hypotheses: (a) there is a relationship between students’ learning styles and visualization skills, and (b) factors that influence students’ visualization skills are their year in current major, preprofessional experience, and cultural background.

Key Findings

Results of this study revealed that there is a relationship between learning styles and visualization skills. Converger and Assimilator learning styles scored the highest on visualization tests. Year in major and cultural background were significant factors influencing skills. As students progress through their courses, visualization skills significantly improve, and the greatest improvement occurs between the second and fourth years. Asian/Asian American students scored highest on the visualization test.

Conclusions

Teaching methods need to be developed to enhance visualization skills for all learning styles for interior design students.
Sole Practitioner: Self–Employed or Contingent Worker? Investigating Worker Misclassification and Its Implications to Commercial Interior Design
Authors: Vollmer John L.
Published: June 2008

Issue

Sole practitioners in the area of contract design can be subject to compromise in their employer relationships. Designers who do not take stands against improper and illegal employer demands jeopardize their self–employed status and may become exploited workers. The employing firm, in turn, puts itself at risk with an IRS audit of worker classification.

Goal

Abuse of worker classification is recognized to be a general practice in many fields and professions nationwide. The goal was to examine this accommodative and destructive work pattern.

Application

Forfeiture through cooperation of the self–employed status has detrimental personal and financial results for the individual, creates adverse federal tax and employment benefit effects for both participants, denies self–employment, denigrates the interior design profession, and erodes all workers’ rights.

Description

Revelation of employment practices common in other industries and professions and knowledge of federal law provide a basis of understanding that can stop such illegal work behavior.

Conclusion

Industry acknowledgment of the exploitation will go a long way toward correction. However, sole practitioners themselves must reject employer requests to misrepresent their employment status. Federal enforcement of the law is helping, but professional associations, industry leaders, and design educators need to become strong advocates for conducting business the right way.
Collaborative Design Using the Internet: A Case Study
Authors: Matthews David , Weigand John
Published: June 2008

Advances in Internet communication are redefining interior design education and suggest new and exciting potentials for collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. The goal of this project was to explore issues related to collaborative work using Internet communication to resolve a complex design problem. Interior design and architecture students at two universities participated in an exploratory studio project which took place over a seven–week time period. Students developed a working knowledge of several distance communications technologies as required to complete the detailed studio problem.

Use of the Internet as a communication device for collaborative design allowed students, as future professionals, to challenge ways in which collaborative design is accomplished in the workplace. Just as importantly, new communications technologies suggest exciting possibilities for interuniversity, interdisciplinary, and student/professional partnering. As universities scramble to implement new technologies, it is incumbent on interior design educators to envision the potential of this technology and to construct learning experiences which challenge existing models for design and communication processes.
Effects of Hand–Drawing and CAD Techniques on Design Development: A Comparison of Design Merit Ratings
Authors: Brandon Lynn , McLain–Kark Joan
Published: June 2008

This exploratory study examined interior design projects developed using traditional hand–drawing and computer–aided design (CAD) techniques to determine if differences exist on seven aspects of design merit in the resulting design solutions.

Junior–level, interior design students (N=40) were matched into two groups based on their preference for hand–drawing or CAD design technique and a baseline creativity rating taken on a previous project. Groups completed the same project with one group using hand–drawing and the second group using CAD. Interior design educators used a previously developed instrument to rate each project on seven aspects of design merit: appropriateness, complexity, creativity, liking, novelty, originality, and thematic expression.

Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) tested each of the seven design merits to determine if significant differences in design merits existed for projects generated by the two groups. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) determined if differences existed between the hand–drawing and CAD groups when the seven design merits were analyzed simultaneously.

The univariate and multivariate analyses revealed no significant differences between the two design techniques on the seven aspects of design merit when they were used in developing an interior solution.

Both hand–drawn and CAD techniques were used effectively to generate viable design solutions. However, additional research examining the effects of these techniques is necessary before assumptions can be completely formulated regarding their impact on the design process.
Theoretical Framework for Instruction that Accommodates All Learning Styles
Authors: Nussbaumer Linda L.
Published: June 2008

Students’ learning experiences are affected by the way in which they are taught. The teacher's role in the classroom and the teaching method will positively or negatively affect the learning experience. Attention to learning style theory may improve learning outcomes and attitudes toward learning. Instruction in interior design, a multidisciplinary field with a variety of learning styles and various visual abilities, should accommodate this diversity to improve learning outcomes, attitudes toward learning, and visual abilities. The goal is to teach to all learning styles and to emphasize right–brain activities. A theoretical framework was developed that utilizes learning styles and superimposes hemisphericity with emphasis on right–brain activities. This framework may be applied to various subjects within the interior design curriculum—particularly, those taught in the lecture format. The learning experience may become more exciting and challenging for students if all learning styles are accommodated. The emphasis on right–brain activities may encourage visual and creative thinking among interior design students with the result that students may grasp more and deepen their learning experience.
Home Again: Environmental Predictors of Place Attachment and Self–esteem for New Retirement Community Residents
Authors: Eshelman Paul E. , Evans Gary W.
Published: June 2008

This study examined the relative contribution of two dimensions of interior features functional and personal meaning—as predictors of place attachment and self–esteem for ninety–two new retirement community residents housed in independent living apartments or cottages of a recently opened continuing care retirement community (CCRC). Residents were interviewed and facilities observed as part of a multi–disciplinary, collaborative study. Stepwise regression determined which subsets of function and meaning variables respectively operated as the most important, independent predictors for place attachment and self–esteem. Hierarchical regression equations then examined the relationship between function and meaning variables in predicting place attachment and self–esteem, asking: exceeding the effects of function, does meaning add to a feeling of place attachment and self–esteem? For both place attachment and self–esteem, significantly more variance is accounted for when meaning variables are added to function variables. Once functional needs are met, both place attachment and self–esteem are elevated by interior features that have personal meaning. These findings expand the concept of hominess widely used in the design of residential caregiving settings.
Creativity Defined: Implicit Theories in the Professions of Interior Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Engineering
Authors: Portillo Margaret
Published: June 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine implicit theories of creativity in related fields through a mail survey of 3 1 3 professors randomly selected from accredited programs in interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering. To describe a highly creative practitioner in their respective fields, the respondents completed the Gough Adjective Check List (ACL), scored with the Domino creativity scale (Cr). The interior design professors generated a profile of the creative practitioner that obtained a significantly higher mean score than did the architecture or engineering groups on the ACL–Cr scale. No other significant differences on the creativity scale appeared between groups.

Exploratory analyses of individual ACL–Cr items found considerable agreement as to what constituted creativeness in implicit theories. At least 75 percent of the respondents in each group described the creative practitioner in their respective fields as imaginative, inventive, and adventurous. Disciplinary differences among groups surfaced in 21 traits on the ACL–Cr scale that were statistically significant in areas of artistic creativity, scientific creativity, intelligence, self–confidence, and task orientation. Further, the creative interior design practitioner was perceived as significantly more individualistic and original than in the other three fields, and sixteen other traits significantly differentiated interior design profiles from those posited in architecture, landscape architecture, or engineering. By promoting a scholarship of integration, findings reveal perceived traits of the creative practitioner in allied fields and advance interdisciplinary understanding. Design educators are encouraged to reflect on their own implicit theories of creativity and those of their students to acknowledge underlying assumptions about creativity that can influence innovation and collaboration.
Meaning and Preference of Interior Color Palettes among Four Cultures
Authors: Park Youngsoon , Guerin Denise A.
Published: June 2008

This study uses an integrated color palette to identify the subjects’ differences in color meaning and color preferences in interior environments in four different cultures: American, English, Korean, and Japanese. Slides of six interior color palettes were shown to subjects of the four cultures. As the subjects viewed each palette, they completed a questionnaire comprised of descriptor words such as pleasant, complex, or comfortable. The subjects indicated the degree of presence of that descriptor in each palette. They also indicated their preference for each palette. The findings support Hypothesis 1; there is a difference among subjects of different cultures as related to the meaning of color in interiors in five of the six color palettes. Further, the differences vary based on the specific color palette. Hypothesis 2, that there is a significant difference between Eastern cultures (Korea and Japan) and Western cultures (United States and England) in the meaning of color palettes, was supported in 50% of all cases (words and palettes) and different for the Eastern versus Western cultures. Hypothesis 3, there is a significant difference among cultures as related to color palette preference, was also supported. There are two important conclusions. First, it has been empirically shown that meaning and preference for interior color palettes do vary by culture. Second, color palettes are an appropriate way to test the meaning and preference of color within and between cultures.
Looking through the Lens of Gender: A Postmodern Critique of a Modern Housing Paradigm
Authors: Havenband Lucinda Kaukas
Published: June 2008

The shift from a modern to postmodern paradigm has dramatically impacted the nature and content of academic inquiry and has opened new categories and methods for research. Interior design has been traditionally critiqued on the basis of aesthetics, formal qualities, function, health and safety, and social/behavioral factors. A postmodern critique expands that criteria to include analysis of how designs may be inscribed with particular ideologies and meanings and consideration of how these meanings may empower or disempower certain groups, or philosophies. In a feminist critique, that analysis considers specifically the ideology of gender.

This paper will demonstrate the use of the postmodern deconstructive method of “close reading” in a feminist critique of the Case Study program, a paradigm for modern housing in postwar America. A close reading makes the assumption that the text is not neutral and attempts to discover its biases by thoroughly examining how information has been edited, framed, explained, and constructed. Through this method every aspect of the design process as it has been documented will be scrutinized as texts to examine ideas about roles for women that are constructed through this method; it will not only demonstrate how ideological issues, specifically in this case about gender, can be inscribed within our designs for built spaces, but also provide a greater awareness of our ability as designers to perpetuate, create, or eliminate stereotypes.
Interior Design Faculty Intentions to Adopt Distance Education
Authors: Bender Diane M. , Good Linda
Published: June 2008

The purpose of this study was to assess whether behavioral modeling (via CD–ROM demonstration) could affect a change in interior design educators’ perceptions of distance education. The diffusion of innovations conceptual framework suggests that perceptions of an innovation's attributes will predict an individual's intent to adopt that innovation; using the diffusion of innovations framework suggest a manner to assess the acceptability and adoption of distance education by faculty members teaching in the arts. Little research has been conducted to assess distance education, or to better understand the limited participation in distance education efforts by faculty members in the arts (Abacus Associates, 2000).

The sample for this study included 67 self–selected interior design faculty members from across the United States who had no previous experience with distance education. A Solomon four–group experimental design was used with a questionnaire that addressed the attributes (i.e., relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, complexify, and observability) of an innovation (i.e., distance education) and assessed intent to adopt that innovation. A 15–minute CD–ROM presentation demonstrating Web–based studio instruction served as the experimental treatment.

Findings indicated that four components of this study—relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and intent to adopt—have significant impact on interior design educators’ perceptions of distance education. Changes and strategies that may reduce educators’ resistance to adopt distance education into interior design curricula are suggested.
The Career Cycle Approach to Defining the Interior Design Profession's Body of Knowledge
Authors: Guerin Denise A. , Martin Caren S.
Published: June 2008

The purpose of this study was to define and document the interior design profession's body of knowledge at a single point in time. This was done using a career cycle approach and a health, safety, and welfare framework. The method and framework used to define the body of knowledge are presented in the article.

The body of knowledge was defined from a career cycle approach using the four stages of a professional interior designer's career cycle: education, experience, examination, and legal regulation (NCIDQa, 2003). A content analysis was conducted of the written documents of the organizations that represent each stage in the cycle. Eighty–one knowledge areas were identified from this content analysis and placed into one of seven categories: Codes; Communication; Design; Furnishings, Fixtures, and Equipment; Human Needs; Interior Building Construction; and Professional Practice. These categories and knowledge areas are what defined the interior design profession's body of knowledge based on this approach. Next, each knowledge area was analyzed using a health, safety, and welfare framework to determine its benefit to the public. Finally, a review of literature was conducted to document that the knowledge areas comprise the specialized knowledge necessary for the professional interior designer to protect the public's health, safety, and welfare.

The method used to define the interior design profession's body of knowledge assessed several limited bodies of knowledge that had been developed for a specific purpose, such as education or examination. While this comprehensive body of knowledge reflects a single point in time, it provides a venue for dialogue from which revision can occur and updating can continue, leading to further development of the profession.