I recognise that I’m a little late to this party, and it’s moved into a new thread, but I have kept the original header as both Ken and Don had responded to it with quite different advice. I didn’t wholly agree with either of their views, though I find myself warming to Eduardo’s more designerly approach.
That said, the very conflicting advice from Ken and Don can be interpreted in different ways depending upon the context of the PhD study.
It rather depends what position one takes about the nature of a PhD study. It seems to me that in essence the PhD is a training in how to do research. Or, to put it more accurately, it is experiential learning of how to do rigorous research. This point is often missed. It is learning the basics - more advanced work can happen post doctorally. The PhD study is not your life’s work in research, it is the means by which to undertake your life’s work.
I am referring here to the great majority of early career PhD students that I see, and have occasionally supervised. There are however a number of people who will have learned research on the job, possibly over a lifetime, and for these the PhD may be a culmination of much research. I only have direct experience of supervising one such candidate, but I am aware that for example in parts of Europe this kind of late career study is more common.
We should also be aware that the nature of the PhD varies considerably across countries and disciplines. In my native UK for example the tradition generally in the arts and humanities starts as an individual study shaped around the student’s interests - this is quite different to the ‘PhD mill’ seen in some of the sciences. It is also quite different to say the USA which may be more of a taught programme at the outset.
Given that I believe fundamentally the PhD is a training, it follows that I prefer well structured formal training, particularly in the early stages of study.
For the early career PhD student, the topic of the research is important in sustaining the candidate’s interest over the years of study. But it is primarily a vehicle for experiencing how to do research. Supervisor and student both face the issues of how to investigate the problem under investigation, and find solutions. Occasionally students will make major breakthroughs, but perhaps this is the exception. By far the majority quietly get on with learning to conduct research with the topic that interests them, and provide a small but original contribution to knowledge in that field.
I agree with Don that too much knowledge of a topic can inhibit creative thinking. But that is not what a PhD study is about. Advice to ignore what went before, in the context of a PhD study, is very poor advice. In any case, the literature review is not simply there to glean what has gone before and what is current, it also serves to find the gaps that can be explored further, and avoids repeating what others have done previously. In some cases it also leads to conceptual innovation.
Can a student work outside of their discipline? Of course. Design students do it all the time, it is nothing new. Many if not most good design PhDs today draw upon various disciplines even though they may be examined in design.
However, I feel there is often a subtext to the comments by ‘authorities’ on this list, that goes something like this: trained designers are somehow incapable of understanding or engaging in other disciplines. That is laughable. The views on design by those same authorities are tolerated here, even though they have no formal training in design. Imposters are of course welcome in design but I like to think that reciprocity is observed. I interpreted Eduardo’s comments in this vein, but I may be wrong on this point.
Take heart PhD students! Make sure you have experienced supervisors, adequate early training, and have fun with your research by dipping into other domains. Perhaps most of all, view with suspicion the advice of authorities on discussion lists…
kind regards
David
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David Durling HonFDRS PhD http://durling.tel
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