Friday, 5 December 2025

Asking generative AI to come up with a Housing Studies proposal with research methods comparison and evaluation: poor elderly citizens

Asking generative AI to come up with a Housing Studies proposal with research methods comparison and evaluation (information from perplexity.ai)

(a relevant reading for Research Methods class, assignment 2)

My question 1: "Please propose a Housing Studies research theme based on the following keywords: housing needs, poor elderly citizens in Hong Kong, social welfare, public and private spaces. The research theme formulation is based on pragmatism."

The reply: "A suitable pragmatist Housing Studies research theme could be:

“Investigating how Hong Kong’s social welfare and housing policies shape the everyday use of public and private spaces among poor elderly residents, and identifying practical interventions to better meet their housing needs.”​

Pragmatist angle

This theme fits pragmatism because it:

  • Focuses on what works in practice by examining how policies, services and built forms actually affect poor elders’ daily living, safety, dignity and social participation, rather than only what policies intend on paper.​

  • Treats knowledge as action-guiding, aiming to generate concrete recommendations for adjusting housing, welfare support and spatial design (e.g. estate layouts, community facilities, common areas) to improve outcomes for poor elderly citizens.​

Core concepts to integrate

  • Housing needs of poor elderly: affordability, security of tenure, accessibility, proximity to services, and suitability for ageing in place, especially for those in public rental housing, older private units or marginal/temporary accommodation.​

  • Social welfare support: cash assistance, community care, carer support, and how these interact with housing tenure and location to enable or constrain ageing in place.​

  • Public vs private spaces: how elderly residents use and experience domestic interiors, shared corridors, lift lobbies, estate open spaces, parks, shopping malls and NGO facilities as extensions of “home,” including issues of safety, social interaction and exclusion.​

Possible guiding research questions

  • How do current housing and welfare arrangements influence poor elders’ patterns of using public and private spaces in different types of housing (e.g. old walk-ups, public rental estates, institutional settings)?​

  • What practical adjustments to housing design, estate management and social welfare delivery do poor elderly residents themselves see as most helpful for maintaining autonomy and well-being?​

  • In what ways do specific local experiments (e.g. age-friendly estate modifications, community care initiatives, NGO-run common spaces) actually work or fail in everyday practice for poor elderly people?​

Illustrative focus and methods

This theme is well-suited to mixed or multi-method work grounded in pragmatism, for example:

  • Qualitative interviews and walking interviews with poor elders, carers and frontline workers to trace concrete “journeys” through public and private spaces in a day or week.​

  • Limited quantitative or mapping work (e.g. estate-level profiles of elderly poverty, service locations, public space provision) to identify where particular combinations of housing form, welfare support and spatial design seem to support or hinder ageing in place."


My question 2: "Please offer a dissertation proposal based on the research theme provided above, with the following elements: a dissertation title, 2 housing issues, 2 research objectives, 2 research questions. Two primary research methods to study each of the two housing issues (i.e., 2 primary research methods for housing issue 1 and 2 primary research methods for housing issue 2). Also compare the two research methods for each of the housing issues in terms of their strengths ad weakness, and their mutual complementarity. Again, the proposal should be based on pragmatism."

The reply: "

Dissertation Title

Pragmatic Pathways: How Social Welfare and Housing Policies Shape Poor Elderly Citizens' Use of Public and Private Spaces in Hong Kong, and Practical Interventions for Better Outcomes​

Housing Issues

  • Issue 1: Affordability and Accessibility Constraints – Poor elderly in Hong Kong face high housing costs and physical barriers in public rental estates or subdivided flats, limiting access to welfare services and safe movement between private homes and public areas like parks or clinics.​

  • Issue 2: Social Isolation in Spatial Design – Inadequate integration of welfare facilities with public spaces (e.g., estate corridors, community centers) exacerbates loneliness among poor elderly, as private living quarters disconnect them from social interactions.​

Research Objectives

  • To map how current housing policies and welfare provisions practically enable or hinder poor elderly residents' navigation of public and private spaces in everyday life.​

  • To identify actionable interventions, grounded in residents' experiences, for redesigning spaces and welfare delivery to enhance autonomy and well-being.​

Research Questions

  • How do affordability barriers and accessibility issues in Hong Kong's housing stock influence poor elderly citizens' daily patterns of using public versus private spaces?​

  • What welfare-linked spatial adjustments do poor elderly residents report as most effective for reducing isolation and improving social participation?​

Methods for Housing Issue 1: Affordability and Accessibility Constraints

Primary Methods: Semi-structured interviews (20-30 poor elderly residents and welfare workers) and spatial mapping (using simple GIS or hand-drawn maps of daily routes in selected estates).​

Comparison and Complementarity:
Interviews provide rich, personal insights into lived affordability struggles and accessibility barriers but risk subjectivity and small sample bias. Spatial mapping offers objective visualization of movement patterns and welfare proximities, strengthening generalizability, yet lacks emotional depth on experiences. Together, they complement pragmatically by triangulating qualitative narratives with quantitative spatial data for practical policy maps.​

Methods for Housing Issue 2: Social Isolation in Spatial Design

Primary Methods: Walking interviews (guided tours of estates with 15-20 elderly participants) and focus groups (4-6 sessions with mixed elderly-carer groups discussing space use).​

Comparison and Complementarity:
Walking interviews capture real-time spatial experiences and isolation triggers in context but can be physically demanding and weather-dependent. Focus groups generate diverse welfare-space interaction views through dialogue, though group dynamics may suppress individual voices. Their mutual complementarity lies in pragmatism's mixed-method strength: walking data grounds focus group discussions in observable realities, yielding holistic, action-oriented recommendations."


My question 3: "Suggest 4 academic references and 4 non-academic references in Harvard reference format, related to the proposal above."

The reply: "

Academic References

  • Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, 2023. Research Report: Housing for the Elderly in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: HKIS.​

  • Robinson, J.N. and Swanstrom, T., 2024. 'Pragmatic Knowledge Production: Bringing the Problem of Housing Deterioration into Focus', Socius, 10, pp. 1-15.​

  • Harney, L., McCurry, J., Scott, J. and Wills, J., 2016. 'Developing “process pragmatism” to underpin engaged research in human geography', Progress in Human Geography, 40(4), pp. 528-548.​

  • Gillespie, N., 2021. 'Pragmatism and methodology', London School of Economics. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121579/1/Gillespie_pragmatism_and_methodology_published.pdf (Accessed: 5 December 2025).​

Non-Academic References




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