Research Example 2:

The title of this peer reviewed journal is called, “Journal of Interior Design”. The article within this journal is called “Soft Skills versus Hard Skills: Practitioners’ Perspectives on Interior Design Interns”.

The article talks about how the field of interior design is always changing. To become a successful interior designer, a person needs specific education and a long line of internships and experience within the carrier. Since interior design is ever changing, it is hard for academic programs focusing on this subject, to keep up and have an accurate updated curriculum guide for students.

A study was constructed, using a social constructivist approach to try and better understand practitioner’s perceptions of soft and hard skills that are needed for aspiring interior designers. The study uses survey questions, directed towards evaluate senior- level interior design students at a mid sized Southeastern university. The survey also only used open ended questions. Once the study was completed the data was analyzed. The findings showed that soft skills were considered to be more positive and beneficial than hard skills.

I believe that this was a smart study to conduct, allowing for educational institutions to narrow their teachings to focus more on “soft skills” since it was found to be most beneficial. I think my classmates would find it surprising how much interior design changes every year. It is kind of like fashion, changing all the time, something that was “cool” could be considered bland and boring in a matter of weeks/ months/ years. This information would be a primary source, because the authors conducted the study and analyzed the data themselves, it was not taken from another source.

Citation: Gale, A., Duffey, M., Park‐Gates, S., & Peek, P. (2017). Soft Skills versus Hard Skills: Practitioners’ Perspectives on Interior Design Interns. Journal of Interior Design, 42(4). doi:10.1111/joid.12105