Hello,
One analysis missing so far from this discussion on evidence in design
research and design is that of Popper. A major focus of Karl Popper's work
was on validation using evidence. My apologies, I over looked it earlier.
In 'Unended Quest' (1976, LaSalle: Open Court) Popper described three
incommensurate worlds:
1. The *subjective world* of personally experienced thoughts, emotions,
feelings, experiences etc.
2. The *external world* of externally observable entities, events,
situations, relationships etc.
3. The *theory world* of abstract entities, theories, concepts and other
theoretical and abstract constructs.
A significant aspect of Popper's conclusions is these three worlds are
*incommensurate*.
That is, it is not possible to prove or disprove anything in any of the
worlds by reference to anything in another of the three worlds.
This is obvious in terms of the subjective world and the external world. We
can each think and feel very different things in response to an external
situation: the external situation does not prove or disprove what thoughts
and feelings we have.
Similarly, between the theory world and the subjective world, it is clear
that on one hand our subjective thoughts and emotions are not proven by
theories, and on the other hand, our feelings about theories do not prove or
disprove the theories.
In essence, Popper's analyses show that one can only prove outcomes in any
one of the three worlds in terms of other things in the *same* world.
Design research is typically a matter of the *theory world*, and the
simplistic view of evidence refers to it in the *external world* these are
incommensurate and hence from the simplest view evidence cannot prove
theory.
A more nuanced view has three elements:
1. All situations have, incommensurately, all three worlds.
2. Whilst there is no possibility of proof between the three worlds due to
the intrinsic incommensurability, there is an expectation of reasonable
coherence between what we see in each of the three worlds about any one
situation.
3. The validity of theories, concepts, ideas and other abstractions can only
be proven with respect to and using items in the theory world.
So to look at the situations of design research and design, each has:
1. Subjective world: our individually-held thoughts, feelings and
subjective experiences about designs, partially completed ideas, theories,
concepts etc.
2. External world: the physical designs (drawings etc.), the objects created
using designs (the physical kettles, banking systems, interfaces etc),
written down theories and concepts, the physical records of measurements and
recordings made about things and events (the physically represented data),
etc.
3. Theory world: the abstract entities that are the basis for theories
written down; the abstractions that are the measurements and recordings of
data in theory terms (as distinct from the same actualised physically as
tables of data/ videos/computer files etc., OR, the same represented in
individuals subjective thoughts and feelings about theories and
abstractions)
Poppers work provides a really helpful basis for categorising and
clarifying all of the arguments provided on this topic so far on this list.
In reality, most of what we are concerned with in design and design research
is in the *theory world. Alongside that we use activities in the *subjective
world* and refer to things and events in the *external world*.
The consequent corollaries for 'evidence' are:
1. When evidence is seen as being an entity in the *external world* it is
irrelevant to testing and proving the validity of theories, concepts,
models, ideas and entities in the theory world. The most that could be
claimed is similarity or that situations in the *theory world* and the
*external world* comport well.
2. Perhaps more significant for design and design research, when evidence is
seen as being of the *subjective world* (as subjective phenomenological
experiences) then one hand it cannot be used either to prove theory in the
*theory world* or prove anything in the *external world*. Instead, if it
comports well with both, it implies low cognitive and affective dissonance
in individuals.
3. More importantly, the most useful outcomes are when evidence is regarded
as a theoretical entity wholly located in the *theory world*. At that
point, as a fully-fledged member of the theory world, evidence, seen in this
way, offers the basis of validating theories , concepts, ideas, predictive
models, and all other varieties of abstract theoretical constructs.
This of course, leaves the challenge of how to describe the transition
between 'evidence as events in the *external world* (sometimes naively and
incorrectly referred to as 'data')' AND 'evidence as a theoretical entity
wholly and exclusively in the *theory world*'.
Carlos astutely commented 'evidence is interpreted data', referencing all
three worlds (interpretation being a subjective process) and pointing to the
reality that the only sound use of evidence is as a theoretical entity in
the realm of theory and reasoning.
To understand evidence in terms of it being useful to validate theory or
designs, it is necessary to understand how we make that transition, or
'interpretation' between the elements in the *external world* and evidence
as a wholly theoretical entity: bearing in mind the incommensurability of
the three worlds.
So far, any detailed understanding of that transition from 'evidence in the
*external world*' to the only use of evidence in design and design research
which is only by 'evidence in the *theory world*' has not yet be addressed
in the discussion on this list.
Nor, as I understand it, has it been addressed in Ken's PowerPoint.
Best wishes,
Terry
---
Dr Terence Love
PhD(UWA), BA(Hons) Engin. PGCEd, FDRS, AMIMechE, MISI
Director,
Love Services Pty Ltd
PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks
Western Australia 6030
Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848
Fax:+61 (0)8 9305 7629
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