In this research, we conducted a survey targeting both Professionals and Non-Professionals using group organized method during the month of October 2016 and December 2017. Fifty pictures of living spaces were shown to 39 Non-Professionals (14 male and 25 female) who are 30th, 40th or 60th in in age who are the primary buyers of residential houses, as well as thirteen Professionals (8 male, 5 female) who were involved in interior planning within the 30th-40th age bracket.
The survey result was analyzed using quantification method type III to obtain the languages that explain the images of “living”. Then we conducted canonical correlations analysis to understand the cognitive dimensions between Professionals and Non-Professionals. Following summarizes our research results:
1) Almost perfect match in cognitive structure of aesthetic values up to the first four cognitive dimensions. The difference was observed at the fifth dimension.
2) Different types of languages were used between the two groups: Non-Professionals tend to use emotionally expressive languages, while Professionals describe interior components and details.
3) The paper categorized cognitive structure by dimensions and identified the concepts used by both sets of the group: high commonality in both languages and cognitive dimensions (e.g., “western vs oriental”, “resort”), different language with common cognitive dimension (e.g., “living feel” and “chromatic sensation” for Non-Professionals, “quality of excellence” and “inorganic feel” for Professionals), rare commonality in both languages and cognitive dimension (e.g., “cheerfulness” for Non-Professionals and “retro feel” for Professionals).
4) While the language is the main factor causing the differences, the translation methodology (explained in Section 1.2) may be able to resolve the issues in different language with common dimension.
