This is in reference to the thread from Nicola Morelli and E. B. Young.


At the risk of commenting too long after the initial posts, I thought it
may be useful to add something on the differences among degrees in
design and other fields.  While I have found many local differences
among degree programs in different cultures and parts of the world among
the thirty or so countries I have visited, I have also found an
interesting consistency in distinguishing the levels of education that
we call undergraduate, master's, and doctoral.  The language varies from
place to place, but the core problem at each stage seems to be
understood in a similar way by many people, suggesting that there is a
shared insight into the kind of knowledge that one discovers at each
level of education and how the levels relate.

I spoke on this at the Ohio conference, and I will quote the section
from that paper here, since some people may not have seen the
proceedings.  I certainly don't mind if folks disagree with this
characterization, but it seems to hold up pretty well after discussion.  

Although I don't care for snappy one-liners in something so complex, I
think the cumulative progression is from reasoned facts, to reasoned
connections, to reasoned significance or principles.  Or, as a
well-known twentieth-century philosopher has argued, from hypotheses to
themes to theses.

Just a thought.

Dick Buchanan

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>From "The Study of Design:  Doctoral Education and Research in a New
Field of Inquiry"

"	2.  Form and Structure.  In planning the structure and content of
doctoral education in design, we must be alert to the differences among
undergraduate, master's, and doctoral education.  Too often, master's
education in design is conceived merely as a very long undergraduate
degree and doctoral work is conceived as a very, very long master's
degree.  It is painful to admit this, but it is true.  There is very
little comfort in the observation that other disciplines and fields in
some universities suffer the same shortcoming.

	I often explain the differences in levels of education in this way. 
Undergraduate education should provide a sound education in the liberal
arts and in the fundamental knowledge and skills of a discipline that
prepare a student for a productive life in our culture.  A student is
properly educated when he or she understands a body of facts and is able
to reason, make intelligent connections, and interpret facts in order to
assess what is significant and valuable.  The emphasis falls on reasoned
facts, based on general education as well as specialized experience in
the ideas and methods and recognized principles of a discipline. 
Applied to design, it should prepare a student for entry-level
employment in the profession or for advanced study in a graduate program.

	Master's education assumes a sound undergraduate education, with all of
the features that I have described.  However, a master's student must go
on to demonstrate mastery of the ability to make reasoned connections
and to compare alternative ideas and methods within a chosen area of
competence.  In design, this means two things.  First, the student
should demonstrate mastery of the practice of design, as it is applied
in an area of personal choice, leading to a completed design project. 
At its best, the project will be experimental and go beyond the bounds
of mundane design practice, testing the limits of imagination.  And it
should stand up to the standards of professional critique.  Second, I
believe we should also expect a student to demonstrate a mastery of the
intellectual skills and methods of reflection, evidenced in a written
thesis that explores a thematic connection in a body of literature or
applies an established research methodology in the exploration of a
suitable question or problem.  This thesis will not be an original
inquiry, but it should be an original synthesis of existing ideas and
methods or an original application of an established research
methodology.  For me, the master's degree is, and should remain, the
terminal degree of professional design practice.  However, I also
believe it is also a sound preparation for entry into the profession of
design education and should be one of the pathways into doctoral
education in design.

	Doctoral education assumes a sound undergraduate education and the
demonstrated accomplishment of the master's student.  In practice,
student's entering doctoral programs may not have a master's degree in
design or in any other field.  For this reason, there is usually some
provision for an initial period of study so that the student may gain a
mastery of the skills and knowledge that is needed for admittance to
doctoral work.  What this indicates is that master's education provides
an essential ingredient of doctoral education~the ability to make
reasoned connections and to compare alternative ideas and methods within
a chosen area of competence.  When developed at the master's level, this
ability produces only an original synthesis of existing ideas and
methods or an original application of an established research
methodology.  When employed at the doctoral level, this ability allows a
student to conduct original inquiry on a substantive problem for which
there are no existing answers that are adequate for the standards of
human understanding.  Original inquiry is the key, and new understanding
is the goal.

	I am sure that we will discuss alternative modes of delivering the
results of doctoral inquiry.  In some cases, a written thesis will be
appropriate.  In other cases, the written thesis may be joined with a
demonstration project.  And there may be some rationale for a
demonstration project as the primary product, with written
documentation.  The latter is perhaps closest to doctoral products in
the physical sciences, where an experiment is often the primary focus of
attention, with analysis of results becoming the final product."



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