Rosan Chow wrote:

>What I am going to say may sound offensive but I am actually sincere. We
have seen at the
>conference some research work done by Masters students that are very
similar to yours in
>terms of subject matter, quality, originality and possibly independence. I
would like to hear
>your response as how your work distinguish itself as a doctoral
dissertation. I think your
>answers will definitely make a contribution to the current debate. Look
forward to hearing
>from you.

Rosan,

I don't take any offence from your posting. You've raised a good point- and
one that is probably best addressed by first looking at the general
requirements for all research degrees, irrespective of subject area. I'm
referring here to Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy
(PhD) degrees awarded for independent, self-directed research.

1. Students must register for a research degree with an academic
institution, prior to commencing their work.
2. The final degree submission (e.g. thesis, artefact, CD-ROM, exhibition)
must form a contribution to a body of knowledge.
3. The contribution to knowledge must be unambiguously stated.
4. Training in research methods should be demonstrated in the final
submission (indicating competency to undertake supervision of future
research projects).

The assumption in your note is that Doctoral research is in some way at a
'higher level' than Masters research. I think few people would disagree
with this basic surmise, but quite what the term 'higher level' means in
practice is not clear to me for a number of reasons (and is what your post
is alluding to...).

In my view, MPhil and PhD research in design should be no different to other
subject areas in satisfying *all* of the listed criteria. The distinction
between Masters and Doctoral work, to my mind, lies in the 'weight' of the
submission: in the depth of analyses forming the contribution to knowledge,
in the breadth of penetration of the subject matter and in the significance
of what has been achieved. For me, the distinction doesn't hinge on the
shear time spent, the volume of primary data collected, the amount of effort
that has been involved or the thickness of the final thesis. Nor, in my
opinion, do the variables of subject matter, quality, originality or
independence distinguish MPhil research from PhD research. All academic
research submitted for a Degree should have such characteristics and I'm not
sure that any particular subject matter should be deemed unsuitable for
Doctoral level research.

So, to a direct answer to your question. I consider my thesis to be of a
Doctoral standard because not only were my findings and conclusions
'weighty' in themselves (they contributed plenty which was previously not
known), they also opened the door to many more opportunities for further
research (rather than just pointed to the door). Perhaps the latter is a
suitable analogy for the 'higher level' that is Doctoral research: leaving
new doors open as well as closing previously open doors? I'd be interested
in other people's views and trying to turn the analogy to plain English.
I'm sure plenty of people have written about these matters from all kinds of
backgrounds. Also, along the way, maybe we'd also benefit from trying to
pinpoint exactly what is meant by 'a contribution to knowledge in design'?

Finally, in passing, the time constraints of the different degrees (MPhil is
normally one year full time, PhD is normally three years full time) to a
large extent dictate what can practicably be included. Plenty of time is
usually needed to make a weighty contribution. For a MPhil, a contribution
to knowledge may be best achieved by way of a novel synthesis of what has
been written in the past but up until now has not been combined. For a PhD,
time allows for extensive empirical data from fieldwork and experimentation
to be gathered and provides opportunity for wider-ranging, more penetrative
literature reviews. The resultant analyses and contribution to knowledge
will be more probing and more significant.

Owain

---
Dr Owain Pedgley, R&D Industrial Designer
Sports SET Network: www.sportsetnet.org.uk
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