Hi Michael,
The reason I raised the earlier issue about the importance of 'reasoning'
(rather than focus on rigour) is that with terms such as rigour it is easy
to drift sideways into regarding rigour as purely process or consistency.
Using reasoning focuses on the ability to make a logical argument free of
fallacies and sophism that demonstrates unambiguously the underlying process
leading to justification of claims. 'Rigour' can be used to mean this but it
can also (especially in Art and Design) be used to mean other things -
leading to a neglect of reasoning with an erroneous belief that what
reasoning 'does' has been appropriately addressed using 'rigour' in another
form as a surrogate.
Best wishes,
Terry
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Dr. Terence Love
Tel/Fax: +61 (0)8 9305 7629
Mobile: 0434975 848
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-----Original Message-----
From: Michael A R Biggs [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, 9 December 2006 7:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Relevance with Rigour (was : Is a PhD necessary for
lectureship)
Dear Birger and Chris
I agree with Chris that we need not fear rigour, although the way it
is presented is sometimes [in my view] decontextualised and therefore
intimidating because of its apparent irrelevance. I do not think
rigour is actually irrelevant or problematic if we are clear about
its role in research. Contrary to some commentators on the issue
(e.g. Wood 2000), rigour is not about an intellectual stiffness or
inflexibility. Rigour is about being thorough and systematic. One can
be thorough and systematic as a practitioner* just as well as one can
as a theorist* [*or whatever other label one wishes to place here].
As a researcher the purpose of being thorough and systematic is to
enable two things: the gap analysis and the claim to intellectual
property. The gap analysis is what enables the researcher and the
community to be confident that what is being researched has not
already been done, and is therefore original. The claim to
intellectual property comes from establishing the ownership of the
research. As a result of these two things the community attributes
the original contribution to knowledge* [*interpretation/practice,
etc] to the researcher. Failure to establish these two things means
that the researcher cannot claim what they have done is research.
Persistent failure to establish what the researcher has done as
research leads to the conclusion that the researcher is not a
researcher. That is why rigour is relevant and not to be feared,
except for its fundamental role in research.
This subject was treated in more detail by me at the DRS symposium on
Research Quality in London in 2005, and in an article (forthcoming)
in Design Issues.
Reference: Wood, J. (2000) The culture of academic rigour: does
design research really need it? The Design Journal, 3 (1), 44-57.
Michael Biggs
At 23:16 08/12/2006, Chris Rust wrote:
>Birger wrote
>
>>I think we need to look for relevance
>>with rigour!
>Fab, thanks Birger, that's almost as good as Vilma Suero's "we must
>be certain about our uncertainty"* (a practical response to Horst Rittel)
>
>
>>But as you can read from my former mail I would be willing
>>to trade off rigour for relevance as long as it generates new
>>perspectives on our way to make more of design expressions and practices
>>researchable.
>
>I don't think there is a trade off needed. Rigour is not a bogeyman
>in the corner frightening us off from doing interesting or creative
>work (maybe rigor does that but I wouldn't know :o)
************************************************************
Dr Michael A R Biggs
Professor of Aesthetics and Associate Dean Research, University of
Hertfordshire, UK
Visiting Professor: University of Lund, Sweden
Faculty for the Creative and Cultural Industries
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB
UK
T 00 44 (0)1707 285341
F 00 44 (0)1707 285350
E <[log in to unmask]>
W http://www.herts.ac.uk/artdes1/research/tvad/biggs1.html
For information about University research in art and design visit
http://www.herts.ac.uk/artdes1/research/
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