Dear Mauricio,
If I might suggest two sources, you'll find a different view. From my
perspective, Frayling's divisions are misleading and poorly stated. I
state my view on approaches to research in an article from Design
Studies (vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 507-522):
"Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches, and
methods"
If you search for the title in Google Scholar you'll find a link. I
address other issues and offer a hopefully useful taxonomy in another
article,
"Creating design knowledge: from research into practice"
If you search for it in Google Scholar, you'll find a link for the
download from a site at Loughborough University.
I stated my argument against Frayling's divisions in an article in the
Journal of Visual Art Practice (Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 153–160):
"Research into, by and for design"
Incidentally, when I published that article, I got Frayling's three
divisions wrong -- instead of checking my sources as I usually do, I
drafted it from a discussion paper. Judith Mottram published an article
in the same issue titled "The pedestal and the pendulum: fine art
practice, research and doctorates." I am perpetually explaining to
people that Prof. Mottram got Frayling's title and divisions right and I
got them wrong -- in my writing workshops, I offer this as a public
confession of what goes wrong when you write from memory rather than
checking sources each time and every time. Despite my mistake on the
title, however, the problems involved in the construct "research into
design, research for design, and research through design" remain. It's a
misreading of Sir Herbert Read's distinctions for teaching art.
I am a great admirer of Christopher Frayling's own work as a scholar --
especially his work on Westerns -- but I disagree on this. None of the
three-part divisions really serve the need for understanding research in
our field.
You'll find my models in the two articles, one in Design Studies, and
the other in the Loughborough paper.
Best regards,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean
Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia
email: [log in to unmask]
URL: www.swinburne.edu.au/design
Phone Dean's Office +61 3 9214 6078
Phone Faculty Switchboard +61 3 9214 6755
|