The continuing debate on what constitutes research in design and the
nature and characteristics of practice based research is a real pleasure to
read. The erudite contributions are truly illuminating and show how far
views and opinions differ. This is how it should be. There is much still
to be resolved.
Comment on two of the matters raised on practice-based research may be of
interest. The first concerns the argument about the role of the written
element in a research degree and the second is about recent comments on the
availability of information about completed research.
1. The written component in a practice-based research degree submission.
Recognition has been given to the authority of the UK Council for Graduate
Education's 1997 Report on Practice-based Doctorates and it may be worth
pointing out that the critical argument in that document on the essential
role of the written element of a research degree (pp.21 and 22), as well as
several other passages, was taken verbatim without either attribution or
acknowledgement from an earlier paper, The Award of Research Degrees in the
Arts, presented at the 1996 Matrix conference by Susan Tebby and myself.
Since the publication of the UKCGE Report, the Council has graciously
recognised the lack of attribution and published a full and unequivocal
apology to Prof Tebby and myself in the UKCGE Newsletter of August 1999
(page 2). The apology was accompanied by a reprint of the main passage.
I will be happy to send a copy of the full paper, which puts the case for
the written element in context, to anyone interested.
References:
Allison, B and Tebby, S (1996). The Award of Research Degrees in the Arts.
Leicester: Matrix Conference.
UKCGE (1997). Practice based Doctorates in the Creative and Performing Arts
and Design. Warwick: UKCGE
UKCGE (1999). Apology. UKCGE Newsletter, August, p.2.
2. Information about practice-based research.
Beryl Graham and others have appealed for information on completed research
and sought information about examples of practice-based research. The
ARIAD, the national database of research in Art and Design, for which the
DRS is an Editorial Associate, already includes several examples of
practice-based research (keyword - Practical), some of which are
illustrated (see, for example, Tebby, S and Malins, J). The database is
on-line with free access (http://www.ariad.co.uk).
The data in the on-line ARIAD at present is substantially that included on
the 1996 ARIAD2 CD ROM as well as that in the ARIAD Research Examiners and
Supervisors database, which was previously published in hard copy. The
databases are currently being programmed to enable on-line submission of
data and this facility is expected to be in place before the summer. Once
the facility is in place, the databases will be able to be continually
updated and it will be up to researchers to ensure that information about
their projects is made available to others. This is already being seen by
many to be a professional responsibility.
Essentially, the ARIAD on-line submission facility will allow individual
researchers and institutions to submit information on research projects
directly into the database. As with the earlier CD ROM version, entries in
the research project database will be able to be supported by up to four
illustrations, also able to be submitted on-line. The value to design
researchers of being able to access this resource will be inestimable.
On an initiative from CHEAD, an ARIAD Editorial Associate, the information
in the ARIAD Research Examiners and Supervisors database is now correct to
date and, when the on-line submisssion facility is completed, anyone
interested in being included in this well-used database will be invited to
send in their details.
On completion of the on-line submission programming, data being compiled in
institutional databases as well as that on projects by individual
researchers, will able to be entered directly into the ARIAD so that the
database can provide an up-to-date comprehensive resource detailing all
completed research in art and design in the UK. The ARIAD, in
collaboration with the DRS and other national bodies constituting the
Editorial Associates, is expected to provide the major national resource
for the dissemination of information about research in art and design.
The DRS is kept up-to-date on the progress of the website and information
about the on-line submission of data to the ARIAD will be circulated widely
as soon as the programming work has been completed.
Brian Allison
Emeritus Professor of Education, DMU .
Editor, ARIAD
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