Ken Friedman

Key Points/Interesting Information:

Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches, and methods
Ken Friedman, Department of Organisation and Leadership, Norwegian School of Management, Postboks 4676, Sofienberg, 0506 Oslo, Norway

Key:
D – Design/ers
R – Research
T – Theory/ies



Definitions: design, research, theory

-Design involves solving problems, creating something new, or transforming less desirable situations to preferred situations
-Designers must know how things work and why
-The goal of design; solving problem, meeting needs, improving situation, something new or useful
-To plan out in the mind; to have a intent; to devise for a specific end
-D. is the entire process across the full range of domains required for outcome
-Foundation of D. theory; it’s interdisciplinary, integrative
-Intersection point
-D. is in everything
-Now plays a role in the general evolution of the environment and the D. process takes on new meaning
-Failure = lack of method, absence of systematic comprehensive understanding, gaps in knowledge an preparation

Defining research

-Research: investigation/experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts
-Principles are abstracted and generalized to cover a variety of cases
-Basic/Applied/Clinical
-Each test theories and findings of other kinds of research
-R. gives alternative solutions and sense of the areas where creative intervention can make a difference to problems
-Designer must identify problems, select appropriate goals and realize solutions
-R. questions
-Designer: Analyst-discover problems; Synthesist - solve problems; Generalist - range of talents to realize solutions; Leader - organize teams when 1 talent isn’t enough; Critic - analyses post solution problem has been successfully solved
-D. are thinkers - thought to action
-A broad understanding of general principles based on research gives D. a background stock of knowledge on which to store
-Stock of principles, facts, theories
-This knowledge is embodied in the minds and working practices of millions of people
-Problem comes first in design
-Continual interaction of D. problems and solutions generates the problematics and knowledge stock of the field
-R. is a way of asking questions
-R. asks questions in a systematic way
-Original R. tackles new problems or checks previous findings
-D. knowledge grows in part from practice therefore D. knowledge and R. overlap
-Critical thinking and systematic enquiry form the foundation of theory
-R. offers us the tools to critically think and systematic enquiry to bring answers out of the field of action

Defining theory

-Theory is a model
-Illustration describing how something works by showing its elements in relationship to one another
-T. is abstract thought; speculation
-Systematic thought organized in T.
-T. allows us to frame and organize our observations
-T. permits us to question what we see and do
-T. helps us develop generalisable answers that can be put to use by humans in other times and places
-Understanding things; how they are and how they work
-Failure = 1. Proposals at early stages of development 2. completed attempts at solutions where -D. believe they have solved the problem but have not
-Experience will answer a question and a question comes from T.
-Some T. are complex, others are simple
-T. is a set of ideas, concepts, principles, methods used to explain a wide set of observed facts
-D. who can not observe facts cannot T. them
-Externalisation of internal images
-Solving problems demands robust engagement with the problem itself
-Problem sets the premise by establishing the boundary conditions of a solution
-Problem opens a forum for the imagination\
-T. building an act of disciplined imagination

How theory works

-What/How/Why/Who,Where,When
-What and how describe only why explains
-Ability to identify the ways in which the structural relationships of a T. change under the influence of new elements is the beginning of new perspectives
-Every carefully defined and logically integrated conceptual scheme constitutes a system
-T. are models that resemble model train sets, they must describe motion to demonstrate the properties of the systems they resemble
-Creating models that show characteristics of the issue, repeat process until simplest possible model remains demonstrating the issue
-Keep at it till it gets simple
-Point of a model is to give a simplified representation of reality
-A model reveals the essence of what is going on so your model should be reduced to just the pieces required to make it work

Theory construction problems in design research

-T. knowledge is more objective than immediate experience
-A T. is something other than myself
-T. is more true when it can be set out on paper as a system, rules
-Sensitizing concepts; descriptive richness, T. as guide to discovery and modeling
-Explicit knowledge needs to be rendered articulately for shared communication and reflection
-Without a body of T. based knowledge the D. profession will not be prepared to meet challenges that face D. in today’s complex world

Future directions

-Begin with a foundation of definitions using these to build a range of applicable concepts
-T. rich design can be playful as well as disciplined
-T. based design is suited to the large scale social/economic needs of industrial age
-To reach from knowing to doing requires practice
-To reach from doing to knowing requires the articulation and critical inquiry that leads to reflective insight
-Experience alone, without theory, teaches nothing about what to do to improve quality and competitive position, nor how to do it
-Experience will answer a question and a question comes from theory
-Our interpretation and understanding of experience leads to knowledge
-Knowledge emerges from critical enquiry
-Systematic/scientific knowledge arises from the theories that allow us to question and learn from the world
-To serve successfully demands an ability to cause change toward desired goals
-T. is a tool that allows us to conceptualize and realize aspects of D.
-R. is the collection of methods that enables us to use that tool
-KF believes that a study of design based on profound knowledge embraces the empirical world of people and problems in a deeper way than purely self generated artistry can do
-D. needs to rest on all 3 legs of science, observation, theorizing and experimenting to sort useful -T. from the rest
-D. practice and D. research require T.