Reference no: EM133254050

DES11143 Research As Critical Practice

PROJECT 1: PEOPLE & PLACE

Topic: 1 Case study research on gaming industry in India (before, during and after covid)

PROJECT 2: HAPTICS & BODIES

Topic : 2. Research through design (RTD). How Gif videos sounds with simple drawings, giving sounds to Gif videos

A programme focussed approach is taken to learning, teaching and assessment. This means that common methodologies are used across the modules that make up your programme. This will help you master a range of critical, experimental, reflexive and critical research skills that will support future employment in creative practice. Within this module, each taught element will use audio-visual resources, group discussion and activity to foster group engagement in a studio environment. Studio based design activities will enable you to examine various research methods (LO1) and devise your own strategies for gathering data (LO2). You will be supported in the planning and undertaking of research tasks followed by critical appraisal and analysis of the outcomes (LO3,4), and application of conclusions to the creative process (LO5). We will also ask you to undertake peer reviews to develop your self- reflective and critical skills. Teaching and learning methods on this module reflect the variety of topics and approaches to self-selected projects, both in theory and practice. Tutorials, seminars and practical sessions (e.g. workshops) will explore and develop your capabilities in research and analysis. Supporting documentation and handouts will facilitate deeper learning.

Learning Outcome 1. Demonstrate critical appraisal of research methods for creative and critical practice.

Learning Outcome 2. Rationalise and devise appropriate research methods for practice-based projects.

Learning Outcome 3. Plan and undertake critically informed and reflective research investigation.

Learning Outcome 4. Analyse, interpret and present research assignments and supporting written analysis which includes the key findings of the research investigation

Learning Outcome 5. Produce and appraise the application and outcome of appropriate critical research methodologies.

This is an interdisciplinary module that requires you to engage in creative and critical research practices. You will learn how to research by exploring design and the social worlds to which it belongs. You will be encouraged to push at the boundaries of what design research is and, understand how its language, processes and relationships have shifted.

"Research is expected to contribute to the generation of new knowledge. Knowledge arising from practice-based research is embedded in a range of outcomes: understandings about audience experience, strategies for designing engaging art systems, taxonomies of emergent behaviour and models of collaboration, to take a few. And of course, there are the works themselves: the made objects, the compositions, the performances, the exhibitions and installations" (Candy 2011 p.53)

This module is designed to develop the knowledge and skills required to undertake an advanced range of research methods appropriate to contemporary creative practice in design, from ethnography and interviews to phenomenology, collaborative methods and practice-based approaches. You will explore advanced research paradigms for creative practice which include critical, sensory, participative and performative research approaches and methods.

You will develop and refine your skills in creative research methods, analysis of creative and practice- based research precedents, and critical and reflective interpretation of your projects. Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources you will learn to critically explore and evaluate design research practices. The knowledge acquired throughout the module will support you in the formulation of a sophisticated, reflective and fully referenced creative practice portfolio of research. This module will cover research methods that will enable you to identify, map, create, explore, test and perform open ended research questions as part of the creative process. This will be evidenced by a portfolio submission that includes research presentations, posters, installations, films and written work.

Design research has had encounters with a variety of methods and frameworks. For instance, most of the twentieth century was taken up with a drive to ‘scientise' design and its methods. Towards the end of the twentieth century more culturalist and interpretivist methods gained popularity amongst designers and design researchers. More recently still, design research has been nourished by various inter-disciplinary ‘turns' (towards language, the social, culture, materiality, the senses, emotions and affects). In addition to today's pluralist approach to research methods, increasing interdisciplinarity between designers and other disciplines produces new and exciting methods to explore and make sense of design issues.

Design Research is about a certain way of thinking, more specifically 'design thinking', which assumes relationships between materials, methods, reflexivity and iteration. Design Research should be multi- modal and this module encourages multi-modality at every stage.
On your learning path, you will explore, test, think, experiment, create, break rules, reflect and sometimes fail.

ACTIVITY

Weekly Course Work/Presentations

You will explore research through 4 projects, namely 1) People and Place, 2) Haptics and Bodies, 3) Disruption and Research and 4) Collaborative Research.

In weeks 2-6 you will have weekly lectures followed by a workshop that introduces you to a broad range of research methods. In weeks 8-11 you will present your 4 individual projects to your tutorial group. When presenting your 4 research projects ensure you have included
• A clear research question.
• Project Aims
• Primary Research Process, Location, Duration (dates)
• Argument for the Suitability of the method(s)
• Literature /Context (what other designers and authors can you compare your project to )
• Reflection. How could your research be improved?

Weekly Workbook
• Develop a Glossary of Terms unfamiliar to you
• Create and date a weekly workbook page that documents your research ideas and projects
• Review secondary sources and lecture content (from weeks 2-6) that critically reflect upon how different methods produce different kinds of data

OUTCOME
By the end of this module you will have developed practical and theoretical knowledge of design research and creative research methods. This module supports the development of your ability to apply creative approaches to research and negotiate complexity and unpredictability in the research process. These skills will support the independent development of creative and critical practice in your subject specialism throughout your programme of study.

1) Fully Illustrated Design Research Journal (of 2 Projects)
You will submit a fully illustrated pdf journal of 2 design research projects (structured clearly as Design Research Project One & Design Research Project Two). The journal should be between 50-75 pages and designed to communicate the content's themes, research aims, research methods and findings. The journal submission will describe in detail two of the projects presented in class in Weeks 8-11. This submission should also include the following essays;

2 x Harvard Referenced 2000 word essays (one to support each research project). The essays should critically contextualise the design research projects in relevant literature and design practice. The written component can be compared to a literature review which forms part of your Research Portfolio for Creative Practice DES11147 module in Trimester 3.

2) Interactive Research Posters x 2 (A1)
The mounted interactive posters will communicate the aims, process and findings of 2 projects. The interactivity of the poster should be designed to create curiosity and engagement with your research (interactivity can be digital, analogue or both).

3) Workbook
The workbook documents your learning process over 14 weeks and provides evidence of your planning, application, understanding and reflection.