전업주부들의 주거공간에 대한 의미: Q 방법론을 중심으로

Abstract

This study attempted to explore the meanings of housing. Housing is important to consumers because it is consumed throughout their lifetime. Contrary to the other consumer goods, housing has unique meanings which are formed through the various interactions in housing space. It means that housing space has expanded values beyond the instrumental, functional benefits. Housing is not a mere physical structure for living but a mixture of cultural, psychological, and symbolic meaning as a part of consumer life. Regarding the significance of housing in the consumer life, it is important to understand the meaning of housing in the consumers’ point of view. It is a way to know what consumers seek for their housing. The purpose of this study was to understand consumers’ desires and dreams of their housing space through their subjective meaning of housing. To clarify the subjective meanings, Q methodology was applied. Q methodology is a way to understand a person’s structure of subjectivity. This methodology is proper to understand the meaning of housing because it depends on the personal subjectivity. To apply Q methodology, it is required to construct Q questions which contain various statements related to the research theme. We had prepared Q questions previously through in-depth interview of six housewives and literature review. It is recommended to refer to various sources when collecting statements for Q questions to achieve saturation of these questions. We had constructed 46 Q questions based on the interview and literature review. These questions were offered to 38 consumers for applying Q methodology. The subjects were asked to arrange the Q questions on the table of Q-sample distribution in the shape of normal distribution. The subjects were divided into the four types signifying different meanings of housing: comfortable and loving space, working space for family, enjoying space with family, and enjoying space by oneself. The first meaning, comfortable and loving space, is the basic meaning of housing, and means that housing is essential to consumer life for protection and rest. The Q questions indicating love, comfort, and rest were supported. The second meaning, working space for family, indicates housewives feel their housing as a space demanding their effort or sacrifice. The supported Q questions were related to growth of family members, housework, and energy supply. They who have to do the housework feel their housing space as a workplace. The third meaning, enjoying space with family, explains why housing is desired by consumers because it is consumed throughout their lives. The Q questions regarding importance of family, warmness, perfection of family, and stabilization of living. The housewives in this type of meaning regard their housing space as family. The fourth meaning, enjoying space by oneself, shows that housing forms consumers’ lives by enabling them to express themselves and to exhibit their ability. The Q questions including self-expression, free from interference, and ability exhibition were supported. This type reveals the meaning of housing space regarding personal space. From this point of view, housing space is strongly related to those who live in them. The results suggested that the meanings of housing are expanded beyond the basic functions of housing to the personalized, meaningful space for both family and individual. The implication from this study is as follows. First, housing space needs to be developed to satisfy consumers’ needs for productive, emotional space and finally housing space becomes the environment of consumers’ spiritual growth and self-development. Second, it is required to improve housing space for housewives who feel their housing space is no more than their workplace. Because housewives spend most of their time doing housework, housing space has ambiguous meaning between workplace and a place to rest. Some housewives of the fourth type considered housing as a personal space and from this viewpoint it is recommended to ensure discretionary private space separating personal life from family life. This study examined the meaning of housing from the consumers’ viewpoint to understand what consumers want for their housing. We explored the meaning of housing by an exploratory approach because it is hardly investigated by experiential methodology. Because the smallsized sampling is one of the limitation of exploratory methodology, following quantitative research is necessary to understand how the meaning of housing is constructed in general.