Doing Research in Design

Doing Research in Design presents new ways of thinking about the relationship between design and research by positioning design as a social as well as a material practice. This approach emphasises the social consequences of design decisions as well as the importance of the efficient functioning of a design. Doing Research in Design argues that design promotes social change and that, in order to understand that change, designers must turn to social science research methods. The book outlines the relationships between thinking and doing in design - and makes explicit links between design, research, philosophy and sociology - and then examines four central social research methodologies in practice. The aim of Doing Research in Design is to provide anyone involved in the field of design with the knowledge and understanding of the best methods to plan and conduct their research.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Positioning the Designer 2. What Do Designers and Researchers Do? Thinking, Doing and Researching 3. Practice and Praxis, Reflection and Reflexivity 4. Thinking about Research: Methodology 5. Doing Research: From Methodologies to Methods 6. In the Picture: Ethnography and Observation 7. Understanding Through Story: Narratives 8. Using Case Studies and Mixed Methods 9. Action Research 10. Writing About Research Bibliography Index

Author Biography

Christopher Crouch coordinates Higher Degrees by Research in the School of Communications and Arts at Edith Cowan University, Australia, and is Professor in the School of Art and Design, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. He is author of Modernism in Art, Design and Architecture and editor of Subjectivity, Creativity and the Institution, and Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture: Tradition, Modernity and Globalisation. Jane Pearce is Senior Lecturer in Education at Murdoch University, Australia, and author of Identity and Pedagogy: Critical Reflections on Teaching in a University.