Hi David,
Thanks you for your reply. Sorry about the delay in responding. Too much
going on.
The focus of my question was a bit deeper than you took it. You described
methods and techniques of interaction that you use as a consultant, and that
their development was informed by particular philosophical positions. These
methods and techniques presumably are based on assumptions about how the
world functions and assume some human processes that underlie the
activities by which 'clarity' emerges. I was asking about what the details
of these underlying processes are and how they function to result in
'clarity'. What you have told me is superficial and I'm trying to identify
the underlying processes. You say there is empirical confirmation of the
effectiveness of your methods and techniques. Empirical validation provides
association between methods and outcomes but does not necessarily say
anything about causal explanations or underlying entities on which these
mid-level theories and methods depend. My question was asking for more
detail about the underlying concepts, assumptions and processes and the
detail of the causal relations that allow deduction of the methods and
techniques you describe.
To give a probably oversimplistic parallel. It is similar to me asking how a
car works and you answering 'I press this pedal and turn this steering
wheel... and it goes'. My underlying question is actually about what is
going on physically (i.e. what are the details of the processes of
propulsion and steering) such that pressing the pedal and turning the
steering wheel has the result effect of the subsequent car's functioning.
You pointed to social constructionism as one of the reference points. I'm
unclear how social constructionism provides the above explanations. Am I
missing something?
My underlying interest in this is the practicalities of theory development
in research, particularly in the area of unambiguity.
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David
Sless
Sent: Saturday, 19 May 2007 1:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Disingenuous Building Question
Hi Terry, you asked:
> What I'd like to know is the details of the process(es) from which
> 'clarity'
> emerges as they relate to that emergence and how the responsible
> 'acts' in that process result in 'clarity'? I.e. which specific acts
> help 'clarity' to emerge (and which not) and more importantly exactly
> why and how? Is that possible?
There are a number of interrelated methods that have guided us, most of them
coming from social sciences, informed by the philosophy of Martin Buber,
Wittgenstein, Mead and Dewey. Broadly they fall within a social
constructionist approach.
They emerge largely from practical activity such as conflict resolution,
family counselling, health counselling, community development and
psychotherapy. It's fairly practical stuff about conducting conversations,
setting up opportunities for dialogue, asking specific types of questions,
turn taking and so on.
A couple of texts that were seminal for me are:
Pearce, W. B., & Cronen, V. (1980). Communication, action, and
meaning: The creation of social realities. New York: Praeger.
Shotter, J. (1993). Cultural Politics of Everyday Life: Social
Constructionism, Rhetoric, and Knowing of the Third Kind. Milton
Keynes: Open University Press; and University of Toronto Press.
The labels by which the techniques are known are: Coordinated Management of
Meaning and Appreciative Inquiry. If you are interested, there is now a vast
literature on techniques, theory and case histories to wade through. Much of
it is good serious stuff with some good empirical validation, but there is
also a kind of evangelical movement associated with Appreciative Inquiry
that is not quite my style.
The methods form the basis of the way we conduct the scoping stage of a
design project, stakeholder management, prototype development and testing,
in fact all points where our work involves conversations. So it's pretty
central to what we do.
I have written a bit about its application in information design, but not as
much as I would like to.
Hope this helps
David
--
blog: www.communication.org.au/dsblog
web: http://www.communication.org.au
Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA
CEO . Communication Research Institute . . helping people communicate with
people .
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