Dear Terry,
There is a third, and important, form of design research.
Herbert Simon defines the goal of science in general as understanding
“things: how they are and how they work” (Simon 1982: 129). Next, he
defines design. To design is to “[devise] courses of action aimed at
changing existing situations into preferred ones” (Simon 1982: 129).
A third form of design research involves developing a profound
understanding of how design works. Most significant developments in
many fields involves a serious and abstract understanding or a
profound theoretical understanding of the "thing" -- how it is and how
it works. This ultimately leads to progress in the two forms of design
research you describe.
Yours,
Ken
Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished
Professor | Dean, Faculty of Design | Swinburne University of
Technology | Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask] | Ph: +61
3 9214 6078 | Faculty www.swinburne.edu.au/design
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Reference
Simon, Herbert. 1982. The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, Mass:
MIT Press.
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Terry Love wrote:
--snip--
A question that springs to mind is about where you are drawing the
boundaries of what you see as design research.
Seems like there are two obvious-ish options:
1. Design research defined as 'research that helps improve design
outcomes and design practices'. This includes the design related
research from AI, Psychology, Math modelling etc etc
2. Design research defined as 'research that designers use in their practices'.
--snip--
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