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Mark ...I'd therefore like to offer up the potentially controversial position that PhD's that include practice as a research method should, preferably, be supervised by academics that have considerable experience as practitioners: plus a PhD of course!... Are you saying that there are examples - in your experience - of non practitioners supervising? I find this quite incredible - theory is is what theory doesn't as me old Yorkshire mum used to say. I can understand supervision from someone without a PhD - but only in a secondary role. Robin PR Hodge MA, BA (Hons), PG Dip (Media), FAETC, MIDI Fellow of the Royal Society Faculty Head of Collaborative Courses Programme Director Master of Design and Communication TEL: ext 75572 Foyle Arts University of Ulster at Magee L/derry -----Original Message----- From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design on behalf of Dr Mark Evans Sent: Tue 10/11/2009 16:19 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: PhD supervision of practice as a research method? Having spent my early career as a practitioner; employed practice in my own PhD (industrial design); and now supervise/examine PhD's that include practice as a research method; I reflected on my experiences in the preparation of a paper for the 2009 International Conference of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (http://www.experientialknowledge.org/). When discussing the use of practice in research, I made the following comments in the abstract of my paper: "When considering the application of such methods, it is necessary to ask two key questions: can the process/outcomes supply robust data and does the researcher have the necessary capability as a practitioner to enable generalisations to be made. The latter issue brings into question the need for appropriate supervision, as judgements must be made on the capability of the researcher and quality/relevance of creative output i.e. do their supervisors need expertise in practice?". I have seen examples of poor practice that has contributed to PhD's in industrial/product design and have no problems articulating the deficiencies and impact this has on the research method. Unfortunately, their supervisors were unable to see this. I therefore have concerns that this may be a significant issue in the field of industrial/product design. It may also be an issue for other disciplines but have no evidence to substantiate this. I'd therefore like to offer up the potentially controversial position that PhD's that include practice as a research method should, preferably, be supervised by academics that have considerable experience as practitioners: plus a PhD of course!