It's interesting to think about design research being developed as an academic field. I wonder how far it can really be taken; I'd think that a lot of "design"-type research questions have probably been explored in art theory and criticism (a well-developed field) as well as psychology and the sciences (for questions of visual perception and information processing). It would be helpful to have some examples of potential research questions. What would a dissertation in this field look like?
Will design research ever develop into a mainstream PhD field? In my mind I'm comparing it to fields like women's studies, Latin-American studies, African-American studies...These are relative newcomers to the academic scene, and universities are still sort of split on whether these fields are given as majors, certificate programs, PhD programs, etc. In reading books in these areas, I'm struck by how earlier research seems to be partly focused on proving the validity of the field, maybe so that academics in better-established areas (ie, U.S. history) will take these researchers seriously. There seems to be a developmental period where the research is broad and almost politicized in proving itself. Once the field is established, then more specific research questions begin to come up. At first it's like a new kid trying to fit in with the popular kids at school.
It'll be interesting to watch how this design PhD thing develops, or doesn't develop. I don't really see how anyone could claim legitimacy as a design researcher without also being established practice-wise, so separating research from practice seems odd to me.
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