On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 5:00 PM, Deirdre Barron <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I certainly understand that there are different approaches to the PhD- not
> only because of different expectations in  different countries but also
> because of different disciplines. This applies to design in that it is
> influenced by so many disciplines. Having provided supervision in design
> doctoral education for nearly 20 years I have see a range in quality of
> dissertations- even though there is only a pass/ fail option in assessment.


​All that is true, but I still keep to high standards.
​

> For me the massification of  doctoral education raises issues around
> minimum  expectations.


​The massification of doctoral education (in all fields, not just design)
is indeed a pribblem, but not an excuse to lower standards.​



> As such I would be interested in knowing what you saw as a minimum
> requirement for the award PhD
> ​/
>

​The work has to be technically sound, and, most importantly, it has to
make a definite contribution to our understanding.

At my university, I was once on a committee that denied the PhD to a
budding young composer whose work was brilliant. We said the candidate
would probably have a brilliant, very successful career. But the
composition itself did not make a contribution to knowledge.

If the candidate would describe the underlying foundation and structure in
such a way as to produce a contribution that others could build upon, then
we might have a PhD dissertation. But the composition alone alone does not
suffice.

In other words, we could imagine a musical critic getting a PhD for an
analysis of this person's work, even though the person did not.
--
In a similar sense, a designer who produces a wonderful product (digital,
physical, ...) does not get a PhD. I would only give the Design PhD for
people who have increased our understanding.

Comment: I have been on a number of Design PhD committees at TU Delft. I
thought that​ the works there fit my standards very nicely. New insights,
explored across a range of situations, described in a way that others could
benefit from the knowledge, with example designs that were noteworthy (but
by themselves, not sufficient for a PhD).

don

Don Norman
Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
[log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/  www.jnd.org  <http://www.jnd.org/>


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