Hi, Ken,
You seem to be presenting a bit of a one-eyed picture that doesn't seem to represent reality and overplays the roles of evidence .
There are two models:
1. Extension of theory by reasoning into more advanced theories:
This is the most common process across all disciplines. The theories are then later tested by evidence. This mode in which evidence is secondary is found as the basis for forms of research from blue sky, hypothesis testing, single question research, problem-based research etc.
2. The idea of developing theory from evidence is rare: Observation of events, collection of evidence, developing theory from evidence is very much a minor theme in research. It is found as a secondary phenomena in discovery-based research. The reality is that theory and reasoning identify where to look for evidence. Also, evidence is a similar secondary aspect of some research methodics such as the Grounded Theory method of Glaser and Straus.
My understanding of history of research and theory making is theory and reasoning always comes first in some form, with evidence and testing second. Ditto for the design work I've been involved in over the last 40 odd years.
I enjoyed reading Talcott (but prefer Giddens). It's a fallacy error, however, to suggest, as you do, that identifying four theory steps from classification to complex theory imply that evidence comes before theory. There is quite a difference between adhoc informal observations and evidence. Theory again comes before evidence. Theory, in some form, shapes observation and the act of bringing the informal observations to mind as evidence itself requires an a-priori act of theorisation.
This conversation reflects the tension between the roles of reasoning and the role of evidence. Reasoning, in some form, even if predominately sub-conscious, always precedes and has priority over evidence (that is in the nature of the role of evidence). I suggest the culture of some areas of research have underplayed the roles of reasoning, theory and abstraction, and over-played the role of evidence.
An example, even in evidence-based medicine, the shift isn't from theory to evidence. Rather, it is the validities of theories about the relation between medical outputs and outcomes that are being tested by reference to evidence. Again, theory and reasoning first, evidence second. For example, cleaning the debris from within a damaged knee joint can result in less debris in the joint (output) and yet result in poorer quality of life and longer term knee problems (outcomes). In essence, hypotheses about good outputs being equal to good outcomes is being tested by evidence after theories, outputs and outcomes have occurred. Again, theory->evidence->theory-> design.
Theory comes first, evidence is used to test it; and evidence always is interpreted by theory before being used in design.
Best wishes,
Terry
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Dr Terence Love
PhD(UWA), BA(Hons) Engin. PGCEd, FDRS, AMIMechE, MISI
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Friedman
Sent: Friday, 7 November 2014 2:29 PM
To: PhD-Design
Subject: What is evidence in design and design research?
Friends,
Birger Sevaldsen and I have been exchanging thoughts off-list, and Birger asked a very powerful question: what is “evidence” is design and design research?
Just as I was about to write to Birger that this is a powerful question, I began to wonder how the conversation had been evolving on the list.
M P Ranjan asked much the same question in a useful post: “So what is design evidence?”
Earlier, Don Norman raised a profound and challenging issue about the field, and perhaps it applies to any field of professional practice — or to any of what Herbert Simon would have included in the design sciences. Don offered three points:
1. Design theory is probably the best way to proceed: theory supported by evidence.
2. Most areas of design today do not have theories supported by evidence. More difficult still, it may be impossible to develop appropriate theories. In cases where we cannot develop appropriate theories, evidence-based design offers a good way to proceed.
3. Few areas of design today have a base in evidence. It may be impossible to develop appropriate evidence in many areas of design. Where this is the case, we must rely on the skills and insights of skilled professional practitioners.
Don linked this to the develop of other fields in which a scientific discipline grew around a field of professional practice to make it more effective. Don wrote, "In the history of science, this [the three points] is a common path. First comes observations. Then comes classification. Then simple measurements of some components. With time, a theoretical basis develops. The scientific method is a procedure for probing, testing, disputing, and eventually converging upon useful, tested theory. Not all science or engineering practice today is theory based. Some is still evidence-based. Medicine is a good example of a field with a mixture of deep theory, a non-theoretical component based upon evidence, and numerous components not well supported by either evidence nor theory.”
This reminded me of the schema for theory construction that Talcott Parsons and Edwards Shils (1951: 50) proposed. They suggest four different levels of systematization for theories, moving from the most primitive to the most advanced. These are 1) ad hoc classification systems, 2) systems of categories, 3) theoretical systems, and 4) empirical-theoretical systems. This implies a schema of increasingly useful kinds of theories based on the relations among the parts of a theoretical system.
This kind of schema demonstrates a theoretical development that moves from evidence to a full theoretical system. Jane Webster and Richard Watson (2002: xiii) conceive this as a “hierarchy from ad hoc classification systems (in which categories are used to summarize empirical observations), to taxonomies (in which the relationships between the categories can be described), to conceptual frameworks (in which propositions summarize explanations and predictions), to theoretical systems (in which laws are contained within axiomatic or formal theories).”
A field that exists in the fluid state of the design field obviously needs many kinds of evidence — we have a way to go to develop a range of full theoretical systems. It is a long way, and it may even be a long way on what may be an impossible journey. The point of research is to see what it is that we can learn, to shift the boundaries between the possible and impossible as we find out that we can learn, discover, or invent what we once thought of as impossible. And occasionally, it is useful to find out what we can’t manage yet simply because it helps to be humble.
There have been some terrific posts in this thread, and several people have argued convincingly for the value of evidence while remaining open and flexible as to the nature of what evidence might be. Mike Zender, M P Ranjan, and Lubomir Popov have offered some hints, and David Sless got started on a post that he will continue later.
This seems so productive that I’d like to open a question here to echo Birger, Ranjan, and Don. When I read Birger’s private note, I began to think that I can’t answer the question as well as I’d like to do, so I am asking the question here.
What is the nature of evidence in design and design research? What kinds of evidence do we need? How can we gather this evidence? How should we deploy it and put it to work in professional practice? Can you suggest some useful published examples worth reading to shed light on these questions?
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Elsevier in Cooperation with Tongji University Press | Launching in 2015
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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References
Parsons, Talcott, and Edward A. Shils, editors. 1951. Toward a General Theory of Action. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Webster, Jane, and Richard T. Watson. 2002. “Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review.” Management Information Science Quarterly Vol. 26 No. 2, (June), xiii-xxiii.
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