Dear Mauricio,
One option is to treat your problem situation as epistemological. Approach it from a philosophy of science perspective. You can use ideas developed in the domain of epistemology of qualitative research methodologies. Explore the notion of transferability. This approach might be very helpful for your problem situation.
Wicked problems have many aspects. Regarding your issue, it might be most productive to focus on a particular aspect. In your case it is important that with the gradual progress of the solution process, the problem situations changes and can be conceptualized completely differently. Every step towards the solution brings you to a completely new situation.
You probably see this as the largest threat to transferability. In the realm of qualitative methodologies there are a number of solutions or at least partial solutions that might be applicable to your problem situation.
When we talk about theory development, things will go somewhat differently. Again, the qualitative epistemology approach might be very informative. There are many issues that have to be considered before making a decision to engage in theory development. The main question is: Is theory (in this situation) possible? If the answer is Yes, the nest question is How is it possible?
Best wishes,
Lubomir
Lubomir Popov, Ph.D.
Interior Design Program
American Culture Studies affiliated faculty
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403-0059
-----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 G. Mauricio Mejia
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 10:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: generalizability of research through/by design
Hi all,
After reading the responses, I can see that research through/by design is worth since we can extract knowledge to apply it in other design problems. Still, developing design models/theories/principles/categories seem difficult.
Buchanan in the same article suggested that designers instead of categories use “placements” that are flexible references that designers apply to different problems. He warned that when placements become categories/principles, they might not be relevant and misguiding in specific design situations.
Thus, is it possible to develop principles/theories of design? Could we create design theory based on “placements”?
G. Mauricio Mejía
http://mejia.disenovisual.com
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