Action Research and the Practice of Design

Cal Swann

In a design field designers mainly rely on images and find it hard to articulate the process behind the final result. Therefore people would agree that action research would help to improve the design process if you make it explicit and make designers aware of the steps that they go through.

Basic elements of the design process are:

Problem / research - analysis - synthesis - execution - production - evaluation

That is the way we�ve been taught during our BA as well.

Pre production - production - post-production

However, the design process is not linear! It can only be effective by re analysing, revisiting the problem and reframing. That also demonstrates the difference between a scientific approach to problem solving between designers and scientists. Scientists make decisions by analysis and elimination, and designers - by having options and choice. Designers synthesise several contributing factors to create a solution. �The primary difference between science and design centres around the problem � focused approach versus solution focused approach.�(p. 54)

The design process is a research process. Synthesis is the stage in the process when the designer is able to put several pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together sees them click, that�s when the project starts to make sense. That�s why the stage of synthesis is believed to be the centre stage in the design process.

The essential feature of this approach involves the testing out of ideas in practice as a means of improvement in social conditions and increasing knowledge. Action research proceeds in a spiral of steps: planning, action and an evaluation of the result of the action.

In the Action Research designers:

1. develop a plan of critically informed action to improve current practice. The plan must be flexible to allow adaptation for unforeseen effects or constraints.
2. The group members act to implement the plan, which must be deliberate and controlled.
3. This action is observed to collect evidence, which allows thorough evaluation. The observation must be planned and a journal may be used for recording purposes. The action process and its effects within the context of the situation should be observed individually or collectively.
4. Reflection of the action can lead to a reconstruction of the meaning of the social situation and provides a basis for further planning of critically informed action, thereby continuing the cycle.

Principles of Action Research:

1. Reflexive critique
   The principle of reflective critique ensures people reflect on issues and processes and make explicit the interpretations, biases, assumptions and concerns upon which judgments are made.
2. Conceptualisation and Dialogue
   This principle helps us understand the set of relationships both between the problem and its context, and between the elements constituting the problem. The elements to focus attention on are those that are unstable, or in opposition to one another. These are the ones that are most likely to create changes.
3. Collaboration
   The principle of collaboration presupposes that each person�s ideas are equally significant as potential resources for creating interpretive categories of analysis, negotiated among the participants. Participants include team members but also users, consumers and general public.
4. Plural Structure
   The research includes multiplicity of views, commentaries and critiques, leading to multiple possible actions and interpretations. This means that there will be many accounts made explicit, with commentaries on their contradictions, and a range of options for action presented.
5. Theory, Practice, Transformation
   For action researchers, theory informs practice, practice refines theory, in a continuous transformation. People�s actions are based on implicitly held assumptions, theories and hypotheses, and with every observed result, theoretical knowledge is enhanced. Researchers need to make explicit the theoretical justifications for the actions, and to question the bases of those justifications.
6. Systematic Documentation
   This could demystify the process for the general community and develop more respect for designers. It will also help build up knowledge banks, a very valuable resource for designers and other researchers in the field, where they can get access to information about different methods, techniques and innovative methods in the industry. The implicit process becomes explicit and members of the design community learn consciously and become empowered through the process.

An important goal of Action Research is that the results assist the researcher to develop new theories or expand existing scientific theories. Through the process of Action Research, practitioners are able to develop a reasoned justification for their work. The theories and solutions, which are produced from the Action Research, should be made public to the other participants and also to the wider community who may have an interest in that work setting or situation.

The characteristics of Action Research are neatly summarised in the CRASP model developed by Zuber-Skerritt.

Action research is:

Critical collaborative enquiry by

Reflective practitioners being

Accountable and making the results of their enquiry public,

Self-evaluating their practice and engaged in

Participative problem-solving and continuing professional development.