[Air-l] CFP: Case Studies in Research: Knowledge and Inquiry

[Ken Friedman]

Call for Papers:

Design Research Quarterly

announces a new series of articles:

Case Studies in Research: Knowledge and Inquiry

'we want to hold a discussion
on how research steers theory'

Call for Papers:

Designers use the term 'design' to cover a wide range of
activities and types of problems, and we have many differing,
often incommensurable and opposing models of
design and its theoretical and methodological bases. As a
result, we also have have a history of lively debates over specific
theories. These debates have not been able to resolve
differences.

Many regions of design are not well defined, and in such
situations, researchers can find that apparently straightforward
problems can lead to fundamental questions about the
nature of design, what kinds of philosophical and theoretical
positions that can frame the research and ground the methods,
and their implications with regard to knowledge: what
kinds of knowledge are possible within the frames needed
to do the research.

In short, we want to hold a discussion on how research
steers theory. Our idea is to look at research and theories in
design not primarily as related to subfields per se, but to see
theories as products of research problems themselves: the
topics studied studied and the questions being researched.
Rather than look at abstract problems of research and
theory, we want to present actual problems as case studies.
In this way, we can clarify design by mapping its terrain
of activities and problem types with their fundamental theoretical
and methodological requirements.

Over the next two years, DRQ will collect and publish
articles on these topics and replies to those articles, using
its regular publication schedule to build a discussion. If you
have an interest or idea for an article or other submission,
please contact the editor, Peter Storkerson.

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Topics:

We seek papers that explore issues including:

- ontological and epistemological implications or require-
ments of a research problem

- status of knowledge, its bases and levels of certainty

- conflicts between the knowledge that is possible in a
given situation and the research goals.

-how research fits into fundamental paradigms: scien-
tific, humanist, phenomenological, pragmatic, etc., and
how those approaches compare in their strengths and
weaknesses

- working across the boundaries of humanism and science:
the extent to which a research problem requires use
of more than one basic philosophical frame and how different
frames can be reconciled

Specifications:

3,ooo to 6,000 words

APA guidelines

For information or submissions:

Peter Storkerson email: peter at drsq.org

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