Dear Rosan,

As I've said more than once, describing processes is a difficult art. If
you meant that there is a serious and flexible phase of research activity
that precedes a more clearly defined research process, that would have
been a good concept. It describes what often takes place.

If you meant it as a flippant way of repeating the fact that you disagree
with the process description phrase "predesign," I accept that as your
view and I continue to disagree with you. It is a limited view that fails
to account for robust process. Because the concept of preresearch would
fall within a robust process, I thought it a good concept.


This means there is no need for a Preresearch Society of Design. The
preresearch phase is related to the research phase. Preresearch, too,
takes time, thought, and learning, and it is part of a rich learning
cycle. Nevertheless, the preresearch phase -- if that's what you want to
label it -- falls within the larger range of activities.

That larger range of activities is well covered by the existing design
research societies.

Then again, German universities have a long tradition of societies that
gather to drink beer, sing, and duel. If you add singing and duelling to
the agenda, I might reconsider.

For preresearch, though, I would not recommend starting with a beer. My
presearch activities are demanding enough as it is. Observation,
preliminary empirical inquiry, data gathering, information seeking, and
informed conjecture are my methods.

It's one thing to have a beer when you're chatting with friends. It's
another to confuse drinking beer with part of the preresearch process
itself. It is precisely this kind of confusion that leads many people to
confuse all sorts of activities with research.


The opportunity to talk research over a beer with colleagues is a valuable
process in its own right. It is often part of the reflection process.

I observe that my students who confuse partying with research or
preresearch have a far lower level of research skills and knowledge than
students who dig in to master the subject fields they study and the
methods they require to study them. First rank design firms and the
clients who hire them also know the difference.

You could sometimes sell a project over beer or cocktails in the old days.
Today, you must demonstrate skill and knowledge. Top firms and well
educated clients want people who have mastered the skills. While you may
have intended your note as a joke, the fact remains that some schools are
now awarding PhD degrees based on other than mastering research skills.
Because this is happening, firms and clients are beginning to develop
heuristics to sort them out. So are universities who look for junior
research faculty among designers with PhD degrees. In most search
committees, members look carefully for the quality and level of the
program and the degree itself.

I hope that you make better use of your preresearch time than drinking
beer. If that is genuinely your notion of preresearch, I would say you are
using the label in the wrong way.

I like to drink beer. I like to engage in research. I do not confuse the
two. If you confuse drinking beer with the process that leads to research,
you will find yourself among the millions of unemployed beer drinkers
rather than the far smaller group of employed design research specialists
or the small but growing group of working designers with research skills.

Yours,

Ken


--

Rosan Chow wrote:


Dear Ken

i think at a 'preresearch phase', i would have a beer.
i would suggest that we form a Preresearch Society of Design, so we can
all have beer together.
for members who don't drink beer, there will be other beverages.

i would even nominate myself as the first president of our new
Preresearch Society of Design.

Prost!
rosan