| Scope and method of study. The purpose of the study was to determine the current and future occupational responsibilities performed by architectural technologists as well as the perceived degree of importance of those duties. A mailed questionnaire was administered to a random stratified sample composed of 44 educators, 44 practicing architectural technologists and 44 heads of environmental design firms.;The questionnaire included a listing of 28 duties which were identified in the review of literature. A bipolar semantic differential scale was then used to determine the perceived degree of importance of each of the 28 duties, both as performed today and as expected to be performed in five years. Statistical procedures, included both descriptive and inferential statistics; response frequencies, percentages, means, and the correlated t-Test for nonindependent samples.;Findings and conclusions. A general summary of the findings and conclusions are as follows: (1) The most important duty performed as perceived by the sample involved communicating with clients and other professionals and the production of working drawings. Conventional drafting methods were deemed to be more essential than computer aided drafting (CAD) as performed today, but CAD was expected to become slightly more important within the next five years; (2) Architectural technologists are presently heavily involved with residential and light commercial building design. This trend is predicted to continue through the next five years; and (3) Architectural technologists will become increasingly responsible for project management and supervision during the next five years. |
