Friends,

In a long-ago list debate on whether dogs (or other animals) think, I took the position that animals do, indeed, think, though perhaps not as we do. I drew my conclusions by observing goal-oriented problem-solving behavior by dogs. Others took a different position based on a theoretical or philosophical position. While it seemed to me that these positions ignored the possibility of clear empirical evidence, there was no way to provide evidence beyond my own account.

Over the past decade or so since the debate, there has been a growing literature on the topic. Today, the New York Times published an interesting article that reminded me of this. Equally interesting, there is significant research going on at universities to explore the kinds of issues — and now, a massive citizen science experiment to gather broad empirical data with peer-reviewed result reported in PLOS ONE.

Here is the article in the Times: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/well/family/dogs-intelligence.html

Here is the web site of one research center that is a nicely structured example of research linked to citizen science:

https://www.dognition.com

And here is the peer-reviewed article: “Citizen Science as a New Tool in Dog Cognition Research”:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0135176

Abstract:

Family dogs and dog owners offer a potentially powerful way to conduct citizen science to answer questions about animal behavior that are difficult to answer with more conventional approaches. Here we evaluate the quality of the first data on dog cognition collected by citizen scientists using the Dognition.com website. We conducted analyses to understand if data generated by over 500 citizen scientists replicates internally and in comparison to previously published findings. Half of participants participated for free while the other half paid for access. The website provided each participant a temperament questionnaire and instructions on how to conduct a series of ten cognitive tests. Participation required internet access, a dog and some common household items. Participants could record their responses on any PC, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world and data were retained on servers. Results from citizen scientists and their dogs replicated a number of previously described phenomena from conventional lab-based research. There was little evidence that citizen scientists manipulated their results. To illustrate the potential uses of relatively large samples of citizen science data, we then used factor analysis to examine individual differences across the cognitive tasks. The data were best explained by multiple factors in support of the hypothesis that nonhumans, including dogs, can evolve multiple cognitive domains that vary independently. This analysis suggests that in the future, citizen scientists will generate useful datasets that test hypotheses and answer questions as a complement to conventional laboratory techniques used to study dog psychology.

It occurs to me that we might learn more about some of the questions or issues we debate in the design field by designing web-based projects for empirical data as well as by considering approaches based on citizen science. 

Yours,

Ken

Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/

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 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------