Doing Research in Design [Hardcover]

Doing Research in Designpresents new ways of thinking about the relationship between design and research by positioning design as a social as well as a material practice. This approach emphasises the social consequences of design decisions as well as the importance of the efficient functioning of a design.

Doing Research in Designargues that design promotes social change and that, in order to understand that change, designers must turn to social science research methods. The book outlines the relationships between thinking and doing in design - and makes explicit links between design, research, philosophy and sociology - and then examines four central social research methodologies in practice.

The aim ofDoing Research in Designis to provide anyone involved in the field of design with the knowledge and understanding of the best methods to plan and conduct their research.

Christopher Crouchcoordinates Higher Degrees by Research in the School of Communications and Arts at Edith Cowan University, Australia, and is Professor in the School of Art and Design, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. He is author ofModernism in Art, Design and Architectureand editor of Subjectivity, Creativity and the Institution, andContemporary Chinese Visual Culture: Tradition, Modernity and Globalisation.

Jane Pearceis Senior Lecturer in Education at Murdoch University, Australia, and author ofIdentity and Pedagogy: Critical Reflections on Teaching in a University.