Users’ quality perceptions in classroom design: a case study
Helena Maria Galha
Department of Construction Management & Engineering, University of
Reading (UK)
Abstract
Designers must know for whom they design and why, to know how their
work will affect us-ers. They need to enrich their understanding of the
“product milieu”, in order to make choices regarding characteristics, such
as shape, size, proportion, materials, colour, texture and how to mix these
elements and determine the level of coherence that should exist among them.
The design product does not exist in a vacuum. It becomes meaningful
only in relation to a user. The “product milieu” can be vastly enriched
by the greater involvement of more people in the product development process.
It is hypothesized that more effective user involvement in design leads
not only to better adapted spaces, but also to more satisfied users.
In order to assess perceptions of design quality, the case of classroom
design is used as an example for data collection and analysis. First, an
exploratory survey has been undertaken to understand the most important
quality characteristics of a classroom, from the users’ point of view.
Secondly, users’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment were
elicited by Repertory Grid technique, a psychological research methodology,
based on Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory. Finally, to identify common
dimensions of perception and experience across groups of users, a statistical
procedure, Generalised Procrustes Analysis, is applied to all the individual
repertory grids. The results of the main study confirm the results of the
pre-vious survey.
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