Housing and housing space has been a place for personal development, recreation and self accentuation. The need for housing and housing space quality can therefore not be overemphasized. The need for housing remains a...Housing and housing space has been a place for personal development, recreation and self accentuation. The need for housing and housing space quality can therefore not be overemphasized. The need for housing remains a constant index for all societies through the ages. Housing is a complex and heterogeneous product in its setting, the cognitive structures of housing users for housing attributes is also complex as well as their choice behaviors. Means-End Chain （MEC） model has been found to be very effective and potent in measuring these complexities. This conceptual paper explores from literature the MEC model and attempts to propagate its use as a research model for housing research, environment-behavior studies and person-environment congruence. It also presents the methodology employed by MEC for data collection and data management. It will suggest an extension to the traditional methodology that MEC utilizes. The possibility of extending the previous methods and their applicability in design process is herein presented; and to make a case for the usability of MEC model as a research tool for housing researchers. In dealing with user preference of housing, there is a need for research for a development of a technological tool for the identification of user needs and preference, and the kind of decision support that are required to identify these needs.展开更多
文摘Housing and housing space has been a place for personal development, recreation and self accentuation. The need for housing and housing space quality can therefore not be overemphasized. The need for housing remains a constant index for all societies through the ages. Housing is a complex and heterogeneous product in its setting, the cognitive structures of housing users for housing attributes is also complex as well as their choice behaviors. Means-End Chain （MEC） model has been found to be very effective and potent in measuring these complexities. This conceptual paper explores from literature the MEC model and attempts to propagate its use as a research model for housing research, environment-behavior studies and person-environment congruence. It also presents the methodology employed by MEC for data collection and data management. It will suggest an extension to the traditional methodology that MEC utilizes. The possibility of extending the previous methods and their applicability in design process is herein presented; and to make a case for the usability of MEC model as a research tool for housing researchers. In dealing with user preference of housing, there is a need for research for a development of a technological tool for the identification of user needs and preference, and the kind of decision support that are required to identify these needs.
