Class Comments - 03.29.12

What Comes Next? who are we sampling - nouns what are our participants doing - verb why are they doing it -motives how do we know what we know - What are our research approach? [assumption/description/explanation/prediction/action] what are our research questions? how do we find out - what are our tools? how do we measure it? consistency and accuracy NOTES: "archival research is getting a hold of research that other people did" who should i been talking to? what is the population? what is the sample?

Class Notes: Feb 23

At Shaun's class presentation of the public realm, I found it very interesting the examples of ecotones that he showed in the slides. The black and white diagrams shows very clearly the transition between the black line and the white. This simple diagram was very clear explaining the principle theory of what ecotone means.

Some of the urban city images that Shaun showed in the 21st Century Public Realm slides in class were also very explanatory about what ecotone is. I find the urban ecotone sample image of the street and sidewalk very explanatory and clear. After Shaun’s presentation I begin to see the city with a different eye. I begin to realize and pay much more attention into detail and how street patters makes transitions to boundaries spaces.


The images above are examples images that shows different ecotone that I researched. The images represent a little of my understand what an urban ecotone is.

Review of Questionnaire and Class Discussion

We have discussed in class possibilities for re framing our survey questionnaire that we have created for our colleagues. The idea was to explore how these research questions did or does succeed on getting the answers I was looking for. The following are questions that were raised in our class discussion when we analyzed our questionnaire:

a.How does the way the question was framed influence the answers you got?
b.How does the content fit into analyzable categories?
c.What are the “outliers” e.g. the answers that don’t seem to fit with the others?
d.What is missing in the “data” and why?

Response: I thought my question was straight forward when I asked everyone about their childhood experience in the environment they have been raised. I believe everyone did respond my survey question and I got the answer I was expecting.

After our class discussion we were then asked to re phrase our survey question and this is how I would re phrase it:

How did the outdoor environment in which you grew up affected you socially? Did you have positive or negative memories? Going back in time, would you have anything changed in your environment that would make it more pleasant? Today, does your currently environment affect your mood behavior in any way? What would you change?

Topic Proposal for Research - David Square

For my research study I decided to concentrate on the context of pedestrian presence around David Square in Somerville and distinguish what is about David Square’s physical and social design aspect that makes people attracted or wanting to go there? In this subject, I like to investigate what makes Davis Square successful or not successful for pedestrian walkability, staying and socializing?

I will investigate the street and sidewalk context and how does it works to connect people in and around the square? Who goes there and from where? How long does people stay on Davis square? What do they do there while staying? What are the most common activity that happens there? What are the most age group that visit the square on a daily bases? Does the commercial core on David Square play any influence in pedestrian traffic? How does the sidewalks and streets help pedestrians by leading them to where they want to go? It is successful or not? Does the square users and activities change at night? What are the most popular feature or place at Davis Square that people seems to like the most?

My intentions is to find answers for most of this questions by using research techniques I've learned in Sommer's reading. I plan to begin my research method by creating a place-centered map and analyzing what people do or go most. I also plan to prepare a questionnaire and ask users a few questions.