Learning from evidence-based medicine: exclusions and opportunities within health care environments research

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe development of evidence-based design (EBD) has been heavily influenced by evidence-based medicine, particularly the research methods and ontological positions associated with it. While EBD is the dominant paradigm within health care environments research, the rules and conditions that determine knowledge production within this field have not been opened to interrogation. This paper examines the value paradigm that underpins evidence-based decision-making and the disciplinary research methods that have been undervalued in the translation of this paradigm from medicine to design. Specifically it will address subjective self-report data and design-based research methods that could serve to productively challenge existing approaches to the design of health care environments. This paper does not aspire to discredit the current practices of EBD but to encourage a broader methodological approach toward an understanding of the relationship between architecture and wellbeing.