Dear Friends,
This is an amusing quote, but once it goes round the third time on a research list, I'd say it requires a brief comment. It is not correct practice follows theory, at least not the way it is stated. Theory in nearly every professional practice builds on inductive observation. In the theory of research-based practice, therefore, most form of serious practice start with observing what works, what doesn't, how things work, the context in which things work differently in changing context, and so on. Then you try things out, tweak, and see what happens. In any serious professional practice, however, it is equally untrue that theory follows practice as though the only theory that works follows practice. A great deal of modern medicine grew on theories following from inductive observation of what did NOT work. People tried out different things based on various theories, and some of these slowly moved through argument and contestationto become a usable theory of medicine. If theory followed practice without the rich cycle of interaction between practice and theory that is typical of advanced medical practice, physicians would still be bleeding and purging us, while they'd be performing surgery in street clothes as they smoke cigars, and they would not wash their hands. I am always skeptical when designers use such quotes, since much work in our field probably functions at the level of medicine in the 1890s: things don't work and we don't know why. Fortunately, this is not the case across the entire field, and we have pools of excellence based on empirical research and a close relationship between practice and theory and practice and theory in increasingly improved cycles, along with a better understanding of what works, how and why. Knowing what Chris actually did at Sheffield Hallam and knowing the quality of his PhD graduates, I'd say that this typifies the work that Chris has been doing. Back to bicycle quote, says I.
Ken Friedman
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:41:45 +0000, Chris Rust <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
" In theory, practice follows theory, in practice theory follows practice".
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