'...Research on research': The application of attitude theory to research attitudes and behaviours of educators in landscape architecture

This study examines the research attitudes and behaviours of educators in landscape architecture based on a questionnaire on the incorporation of research into the design process which was mailed to all assistant professors, associate professors and professors fisted as faculty in the 1998 Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) directory. Survey results indicated a clear dichotomy between positive research attitudes and negative research behaviours. This dichotomy between research attitudes and behaviours was analysed in fight of Fishbein and Ajzen's traditional and alternate attitude theories in order to provide a framework to explain the dichotomy. In addition, this study identifies the primary deterrents to positive research behaviour among faculty in landscape architecture as the lack of a positive subjective norm and substantive consequences for research behaviour. Attitudes towards research are central in the struggle of landscape architecture to balance practical experience, design skills and research. The attitudes of faculty are fundamental in this process, since faculty are responsible not only for the communication of research information itself, but also for instilling the profession with an understanding of, and love for, research both as a basis of the discipline and as an invaluable tool which informs design.