1. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 2004 1 The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling A study exploring several aspects of the conceptual framework Vienna / 18 th IAPS Conference Henny Coolen

2. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20042The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Background Part of a project about ‘The meaning of dwelling, housing choice, and housing preference’ Subsidized by NWO Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research First phase: developing and testing conceptual and methodological framework (context of discovery) Second phase: follow-up research by means of a large scale survey (context of justification)

3. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20043The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Conceptual framework Meaning of a dwelling: holistic vs. deconstructed approach Preference – Intention – Choice Meaning: functional relationship between an object and people’s goals and values Three levels of meaning: higher-, middle- and lower- level meanings Mental representation about preferred dwelling that can be represented as a network

4. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20044The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Conceptual framework (cont.) Higher-level meanings Culture Individualization Middle-level meanings Latent functions Privacy Lower-level meanings Manifest functions A room for every family member Dwelling Features Physical feature Number of rooms

5. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20045The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Research questions Focus on dwelling features? Levels of meaning; hierarchy? Meaning networks?

6. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20046The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Research methodology Convenience sample: n=45 Semi-structured interviews Elicitation of salient features and preferred levels Measurement of meaning structures (laddering) Content analysis Correspondence analysis and Network analysis Study in the paper is confined to three features: dwelling type (apartment), size of living room, number of rooms

7. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20047The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Individual meaning structures

8. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20048The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling CA of dwelling features and meanings

9. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 20049The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Meaning network for apartment

10. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 200410The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Adjacency matrix for apartment

11. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 200411The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Abstractness of meanings Dwelling type (apartment) Size of living roomNumber of rooms Freedom0.920.52 Well-being0.920.761.00 Social contacts0.880.670.78 Privacy0.751.000.68 Health0.55 Enjoying life0.44 Comfort0.390.670.55 Furnishings0.380.330.50 Space0.360.190.40 No garden0.00 Multi-functionality 0.400.15 Clean 0.88 Tradition 0.50 Family 0.36

12. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 200412The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Symmetry test for adjacency matrices X 2 -valueDegrees of freedom P-value Dwelling type (apartment)24.011< 0.01 Size of living room14.631< 0.01 Number of rooms34.671< 0.01

13. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 200413The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Centrality of meanings Dwelling type (apartment) Size of living roomNumber of rooms Comfort0.610.220.28 Space0.280.380.25 Furnishings0.160.370.18 Freedom0.150.26 Well-being0.150.350.15 Health0.14 No garden0.12 Enjoying life0.11 Privacy0.100.050.24 Social contacts0.100.180.11 Multi-functionality 0.120.43 Clean 0.10 Tradition 0.05 Family 0.18

14. OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies July 8 200414The meaning of preferences for features of a dwelling Conclusions People can externalize manifest and latent functions of dwelling features The approach to focus on dwelling features may reveal meanings that remain hidden in a holistic study of the meaning of a dwelling Levels of meaning could be distinguished empirically as well as the hierarchical nature of meaning structures An analysis of the centrality of meanings showed that meanings differ with respect to their prominence in meaning networks