Hello Khaldoun, Jude, Gunnar, Tim, Terry, DeirdreKen, and everyone,
This is  LONG POST.
I have just caught up with the various issues and perspectives about the "self" issue, interpretive meanings and the diverse ways that the conversation has generally lost its focus over the past couple of days. While lately I have been in the background ( lurker on the list) ....today, I would like to suggest resetting the conversation back onto the "design research rails" that it deserves.
Before I do that I will caveat my comments as follows: - I completely agree with Khaldoun (respect and design/love), Berger and Deirdre ( belief in the value of the list), Johann ( stubborn soul) and so on...;- I am a member since 2001-2 and was more active when I was a Ph.D. student - I really found value in all discussions at that point from the perspective of the "novice" design research doctoral candidate;- more recently, since 2006 as a Vice Dean of Graduate Studies, I see many issues facing design research, research in design, architecture and allied disciplines almost daily and field these and other major issues both as an administrator and as a professor teaching methods and issues in design research and design practice;- I have contributed in the past, sometimes with comments that were discussed positively and sometimes with suggestions that were ridiculed. This did not stop me from trying to figure out the relative reasons for the reactions and the ways I could grow from the feedback;- design research, despite the relative time this has existed, is still in somewhat early stages of development ( 40 or so years years does not equal centuries for domains that have developed positions since the time of Descartes ( scientific positivism) or Plato ( philosophy);- all research and positions taken in research have a perspective - be it positivist, constructivist, interpretative or something else. Without stating that position at the outset, things do tend to get muddy;- In design research, from my perspective, we tend to state things, some with and some without, a particular position. This is where things sometimes get off the rails.
Soooooo.....in order to make some sense, I propose returning back to the issues that sparked these conversations: "Self" and " interpreting self"
In this regard, and if anyone is interested, I propose that:
1) Self is one theoretical issue; Interpreting through self is another theoretical issue;2) Reflecting through design practice is at once a practice-based issue and a philosophical issue; (there are many other that have been raised but this post will be too long if I keep going).3) Interpretive inquiry is a method of data collection and analysis used extensively in fields such as Education and is being used more often in Design research, requiring an understanding of literature in the field and positions taken ( reflective or other) by the researcher. This type of inquiry does not produce causal explanations. Each way of doing research has value but each one ( positivist or interpretivist modes) have very different ontological and epistemological positions ( See Guba and Lincoln, 1994; or Michael Crotty). For references and concepts I am happy to provide these off list, upon request.
We can have a conversation about these issues and I am in if you are interested.
Finally, I am interested in pursuing conversations where all voices are heard, where design practice and design research explore both known and new territory and where all voices have a say in bringing their positions forward, without denigrating the conversation. 
I am all for having a beer to relax and let the words flow!Lets all remain engaged - the world of design research needs all of you. 
Best regards to all
Tiiu
Tiiu Poldma, Ph.D.Faculté de l'aménagement /Faculty of Environmental DesignUniversity of Montreal/Montreal Canadapoldma. [log in to unmask]@umontreal.ca
Guba, E.G. & Lincoln, Y.S. (1994). Chapter 6 : Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research. In Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y.S (Eds.) The Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage Publications, pp. 105-117.  


 		 	   		  

-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list  <[log in to unmask]>
Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------