The purpose of this study was to provide information for research about residents' opinion toward the physical environments of elderly facilities, through the analysis and investigation on the research methodology of foreign academic journal articles from 1990 to 2014. The study results were as follows: Firstly, purposive sampling was a large majority of both facilities and elderly residents. In quantitative studies, many researchers have conducted simple random, cluster, or stratified sampling. Diverse facilities in area, size, location, and etc. should be considered for participation. The qualifications for residents' participation should be considered as well, so that they all could have autonomy for study participation. Secondly, questionnaire and semi-structured guide were likely to be used in independent and resident care facilities. On the other hand in assisted living and long-term care facilities, open questions and visual material were used as well. A compatible scale should be developed so that elderly having variable functional level could participate independently in the study. Thirdly, in data collection process, compliance with research ethics and well trained interviewer's skill were important for residents' active responses and minimization of response errors. Enough research period of time and mixed study in data collection will decrease the response error.