A Generic Process Model for Sociocultural Data Collection and Decision Making in Facility Programming

Abstract

This is the third paper in a trilogy of papers that started with developing the philosophical and theoretical foundations for the study of sociospatial interactions. In the second paper, we created a guiding framework for facilities programming information collection and decision making. In this paper, we use that guiding framework and develop a process model for the programming process. Our methodology involves systems theory, activity theory, and task analysis. We present a generic model of the data collection process in facilities programming. This model delineates process steps, their sequence, and their content. The intent of this model is to provide structure and content suggestions for developing project-specific facilities programing research designs for information collection, processing, and programmatic decision-making. It is a plan for action, articulated and explicated so that professional programmers can use it as a template for organizing their work. This process model is tentative and general, intended as a guide for creating customized process designs for each programming project, considering the specifics of the building type and the programming situation.