Dear all 
The specific difficulties in this area have been researched for some
time (the broader literature is huge). I'll give you a few of the
references and abstracts as well to get you going ... the rest is up to
you

Journals
Hockey, J. and J. Allen-Collinson (2000). "The Supervision of
Practice-based Research Degrees in Art and Design." Journal of Art &
Design Education 19(3): 345-355.
	Literature on the supervision of practice-based research degrees
in art and design is at present relatively underdeveloped, particularly
in relation to empirical studies. This paper, which is based on
qualitative interviews with 50 supervisors engaged in the supervision of
practice-based doctorates in a range of UK universities and colleges,
aims to begin to remedy this lacuna. It examines specific problems
encountered by supervisors of practice-based research degrees, and
portrays some of the strategies developed and employed by supervisors as
they attempt to guide student endeavour towards the successful combining
of creative and analytical work.

Hockey, J. (2003). "Art and Design Practice-Based Research Degree
Supervision: Some empirical findings." Arts and Humanities in Higher
Education 2(2): 173-185.
	Little is known empirically about the supervision of
practice-based research degree students in Art and Design. Drawing on
qualitative interview data with 50 supervisors, this article portrays
some of their routine practices, conceptualizing them as an ongoing
craft, which, whilst theoretically informed, is foremost a practical
activity learned by trial and error. The article concludes by stressing
the essentially tacit nature of these craft practices, and advocates the
development of an adequately resourced programme of mentorship, so as to
facilitate the transmission of good practice between experienced and
novice supervisors.

John, H. (2003). "Practice-Based Research Degree Students in Art and
Design: Identity and Adaptation." International Journal of Art & Design
Education 22(1): 82-91.
	Within the United Kingdom higher education system there has been
a recent growth in practice2013based research degrees in art and design.
This constitutes a relatively recent innovatory step in doctoral
education, with students now able to submit for examination a written
thesis combined with practical work in over forty academic departments.
It also constitutes an intellectual innovation in terms of attempting to
combine the creative impulse with traditional research criteria such as
the need for systematic analysis, documentation, theorisation and so on.
To2013date little has been written about research students adaptation to
such practice2013based research degrees, and so, in order to chart the
experiences of such students, qualitative interviews were undertaken
with 50 research students at various UK universities. This paper based
on those interviews examines one dimension of how students adapt to this
kind of study, focusing on their conceptions of identity.

Prentice, R. (2000). "The Place of Practical Knowledge in Research in
Art and Design Education." Teaching in Higher Education 5(4): 521 - 534.
	This article explores the changing relationship between research
and professional practice in art and design. The basis on which
practical studio-based work is recognised as research activity is
critically examined and recent influences on research degree programmes
in the UK are discussed. A conceptual framework is proposed within which
the contribution of research of this kind to the advancement of
knowledge can be articulated. Finally, this article identifies some of
the wider implications of this approach to research.

Collinson, J. A. (2005). "Artistry and analysis: student experiences of
UK practice-based doctorates in art and design." International Journal
of Qualitative Studies in Education 18(6): 713 - 728.
	During the last decade, doctoral education has been the focus of
much international academic attention. This period has also witnessed
the rapid growth of practice-based research degrees in art and design in
the UK. To date, however, there has been no extensive empirical research
on the subjective experiences of students undertaking this form of
doctorate in art and design. This paper, based on qualitative interviews
with 50 UK students at 25 different institutions, seeks to examine from
a sociological perspective the occupational life-worlds of these
students, and the risks they take in choosing to study for a doctorate.
It explores some of the narratives that students generated during their
often faltering and difficult transformational journey from ‘creator’
to ‘creator-researcher’ during the process of the research degree,
focusing in particular upon the perceived tensions and contradictions
between their artistry and analysis.

Hockey, J. and J. Allen-Collinson (2005). "Identity Change: Doctoral
students in art and design." Arts and Humanities in Higher Education
4(1): 77-93.
	For over a decade, practice-based research degrees in art and
design have formed part of the United Kingdom research degree education
portfolio, with a relatively rapid expansion in recent years. This route
to the PhD still constitutes an innovative, and on occasion a disputed,
form of research study and students embarking upon the practice-based
doctorate find themselves in many ways undertaking pioneering work. To
date there has been a dearth of empirical studies of the actual
experiences of such students. This article, based upon qualitative
interviews with 50 students based at 25 institutions, represents an
attempt to begin to fill this lacuna. The article charts the
biographical change which students undergo as they pursue their
doctorates. It examines the ways in which they construct, maintain, and
modify their identities whilst in the role of creator/maker', and seek
to manage and combine the different modes of being required of a
creator' and a researcher.

Candlin, F. (2001). "A Dual Inheritance: The Politics of Educational
Reform and PhDs in Art and Design." Journal of Art & Design Education
20(3): 302-310.
	This paper examines the changing relationship of art practice to
academic research in higher education since 1960. Whereas art practice
was often conceived of as divorced from any notion of academic or
theoretical work in the post 1960 art school, by the 1990s the ground
had changed to such a degree that it was possible to pursue doctoral
study in art practice. This emergence of practice-based PhDs can be
considered as part of a larger shift in art education and its acceptance
of theory.

Context-Many flowers, small leaps forward: debating doctoral education
in design

C Rust - Art Design and Communication in HE, 2003 - Intellect
As a point of departure for this review I have taken three events in
2000, a
time when debate about research degrees in Design seemed to reach a
peak. Two
were conferences: the ‘Design Plus Research’ Conference at Politecnico
...

Representing creativeness: practice-based approaches to research in
creative arts

P Dallow - Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education/The Journal
…, 2003 - Intellect
ABSTRACT The investigation of creativeness in the creative arts requires
some
theoreti- cal originality to enable the development of an effective
research
method capable of subtly reporting upon original artistic activity.The
...

Visually mediating knowledge construction in project-based doctoral
design research

G Melles - Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 2007 -
Intellect
Abstract Practice-based research projects in design often require
students to
construct contextual reviews of multiple fields. In this
interdisciplinary
territory of an emerging academic field, supervisors and students must
work ...

Books touching on the topic

Martin, E. and J. Booth (2006). Art-based research : a proper thesis?
Altona, Vic., Common Ground in association with Office for Postgraduate
Research, Victoria University.

Sullivan, G. (2005). Art practice as research : inquiry in the visual
arts. Thousand Oaks, Calif., Sage Publications.
	"Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in the Visual Arts presents a
compelling argument that the creative and cultural inquiry undertaken by
artists is a form of research. The text explores themes, practices, and
contexts of artistic inquiry, positioning them within the discourse of
research." "Art Practice as Research is perfectly suited as a text for
courses in art education, the visual arts, research methods in art
education, as well as general research methods courses in education and
the humanities. This will also be an invaluable reference for anyone
with an interest in interdisciplinary research in the social sciences
and the role of imaginative inquiry in human understanding."--BOOK
JACKET.

[PDF] ►The debate on research in the arts

H Borgdorff - TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR MUZIEKTHEORIE, 2007 - english.ahk.nl
Page 1. The debate on research in the arts Henk Borgdorff Amsterdam
School of the
Arts If the urgency of an issue can be measured by the ferocity of the
debates
surrounding it, then the issue of ‘research in the arts’ is an urgent
one. ...
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even this is really a selection of a 'troubling' zone


Dr Gavin Melles
Head, Industrial & Interior Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Office: +613 92146851
Mobile: +61 (0)414374368
Skype: gavin.melles