The use of artificial intelligence in postgraduate research-driven architectural design studios: towards pedagogical integration. 

Dear Architecture Student, 

You are invited to consider participating in a study that involves research on the use of AI in the research-driven design studio. The aim and purpose of this research is to the research aims to investigate ways of integrating AI into the architecture studio curriculum without prejudice to the training of architecture students in postgraduate studies. The study is expected to include 25% of students registered in the postgraduate programs at the architectural learning site. The data collection will be from two architectural learning sites in the global south ie the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The study will involve the following procedures: a questionnaire survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The duration of your participation if you choose to enroll and remain in the study is expected to be 45 minutes. Selected participants will be invited to a 45-minute focus group discussion. The study is funded by funds from the University Capacitation and Development Program (UCDP).

The study does not pose any risks and/or discomfort to participants. You may choose to remain anonymous to protect your identity. We envisage that the study will create the following benefits: exposure to various AI tools used in the research-driven design studio, and peer learning on AI tools. There will be no direct benefit in terms of the provisioning of licenses to AI tools. The study findings may be used to develop guidelines and polices for the integration of AI tools in the curriculum of the Postgraduate program. Participation options will be in person or remote via available online platforms such as Teams and Google Docs.

This study has been ethically reviewed and approved by the UKZN Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (approval number: HSSREC/00009603/2025).   In the event of any problems or concerns/questions, you may contact the researcher at (provide contact details) or the UKZN Humanities & Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, contact details as follows:   HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCH ETHICS ADMINISTRATION Research Office, Westville Campus Govan Mbeki Building Private Bag X 54001
Durban
4000 KwaZulu-Natal, SOUTH AFRICA Tel: 27 31 2604557- Fax: 27 31 2604609 Email: HSSREC@ukzn.ac.za   

Participation in this research is voluntary; participants may withdraw from participating at any point. In the event of refusal/withdrawal of participation the participants will not incur penalty or loss of treatment or other benefit to which they are normally entitled.
No costs might be incurred by participants as a result of participation in the study. Neither are there any incentives or reimbursements for participation in the study.
Participant confidentiality will be protected by coding participants' names, except where consent is given to reveal names. Data will be stored for the duration of the study in a logical manner and coded for ease of analysis. Due to the topical nature and fast-developing field of study, data will be obsolete and destroyed five years after completion of the study.

Please access the questionnaire via link

https://forms.gle/To9TjUyi11htst2ZA