Hi Katherine,

Your experience is actually more common than you might suspect... A reasonable number of my current and past students have completed or partially completed humanities degrees.

And thus the unspoken question we face - what of the role of design undergraduate degrees in preparing effective practice-grounded design researchers?

Could a focus on a "humanities skillset" as research pathway preparation, given current time constraints, mean that design degrees would lack sufficient focus on practice, so as not to enable strong practice-grounded enquiry?

Your experience (parallel to mine, where long term industry experience provides the practical component) suggests that five year undergrads might be necessary for research focused practitioners.

HCI / Interaction Design seems to get this type of preparatory work right, given the work I see in the ACMs... But it often lacks critical awareness of social context.

Your thoughts?

~Adam

Sent from my iPhone

On 16/10/2011, at 10:16, Katherine Hepworth <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi list
> 
> I have a small contribution to the debate by way of personal experience that is not particularly common. My route to working on a design phd included both 'classical' and design practise training.
> 
> I have a humanties undergraduate degree and an equivalent graphic design degree, as well as several years of design practise experience. I never did an honours year or a masters degree, so my entire preparation for research comes from these degrees and my work experience.
> 
> On reflection, the Bachelor of Arts has stood me in much better stead for the phd than the design degree. It has given me  research preparation - in terms of writing, investigation and self-directed learning - that put me at a distinct advantage in terms of general research skills compared to my fellow grad students. I study in a design-specific research environment, where most of the students have completed practise based degrees. Many of the struggles I see other students face during their PhDs, I was lucky enough to have addressed while still an undergraduate majoring in political science.
> 
> On the other hand, I could only do the research I am doing because of the technical design knowledge and visual literacy I have acquired through design training and practise. Nevertheless, I find it daunting to think of the possibility of doing research in my field without the classical humanities training. I'm sure the humanities degree makes my research better than it could ever be from traditional graphic design training alone.
> 
> Best
> 
> Katherine Hepworth
> 
> 
> ---
> Katherine Hepworth
> Research Assistant
> National Institute of Design Research
> Swinburne University of Technology
> 
> 144 High Street Prahran
> Victoria 3181 Australia
> 
> Telephone 0401 408 804
> Facsimilie 03 9521 2665
> 
> www.swinburne.edu.au/design
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>>>> Don Norman  14/10/11 2:43 PM >>>
> Stefanie asked:  do "non-designers" make better design PhD students
> than research students with a design background? One would
> assume that being taught by a design *practitioner* would better
> inform a future design PhD student
> 
> uh-oh. The answer is, "it all depends."
> 
> A problem with a student who has only a design background going into a
> PhD program is that they lack the broad general knowledge from other
> fields. For example, a solid background in social science (e.g.,
> psychology), including statistics and experimental methods. Worse,
> they may have a mindset that makes it difficult for them to acquire
> these skills.
> 
> In Business, people with MBA degrees often have great difficulty if
> they enter a PhD program in business for these reasons. Most business
> schools prefer PhD students who do NOT have an MBA.
> 
> I think the answer is that it all depends upon the student.
> 
> Now I will reverse the question. Can there be good PhDs in design who
> do not have a background in design practice?
> 
> I would like to believe that all researchers should have a solid
> background in practice. I would also like all university professors to
> have some real, practical business experience so that they would
> actually know what their students will be facing.  But these are
> simply wild dreams.
> 
> I know really god theorists in numerous fields who never had a firm
> foundation in the field in which they work. Computer Scientists who
> can't program, for example. (Computer science is no more about
> programming than design is about drawing.)
> 
> I, myself, consider myself working in the area of design
> theory/research and I never got the proper grounding; I never took a
> design course. And although I have considerable experience in
> industry, I didn;t get that until after I was a very senior full
> professor who had been teaching product design (HCI) for many years.
> When I moved to industry, wow, I learned a lot. I now teach it
> differently.
> 
> (Although I have no formal training, I have tried hard to self-educate
> myself. Reading, practicing, visiting design firms and schools, and
> taking seminar courses on various aspects of design.   Teaching too,
> which is a really good way to learn.)
> 
> So, it all depends.
> 
> Don