Design Research

The Design Process and the Process of Action Research

The structure of action research resonates with that of the design process insofar as both are projective, iterative and reflexive. Donald Schön’s landmark text on The Reflective Practitioner (1983), which has become a central reference for both design and action research, uses the activity of design as an exemplar of the kind of expertise that is founded upon reflection-in-action. However, although the diagram of the design process that has been arrived at by researchers into design closely mirrors that of action research, the designer typically embodies this process without being reflectively aware of it as a process. Rather than deliberately undertaking a research process, the designer is focused on advancing the design and thinks only of the shifting, unfolding possibilities that come to view in the course of the ‘design conversation’. By contrast, the action researcher explicitly sets goals, plans strategies and reflects upon outcomes. The designer, consciously, does none of these things. It seems that while designing may tacitly embody the activities that characterize expertise in general, action research renders the activities characteristic of expert practice into an explicit formula that structures the project. Although the process diagram may be similar, the embodied experience of being a designer is very different from that of the action researcher.

The Goal of Design and the Goal of Action Research

It has been widely observed that both design and action research are concerned with bringing about [Page 247]change. While it is true that design can act as an agent of change and that this is an important capacity of design, the majority of everyday designed things are shaped by existing market desires and thus tend to reinforce or accelerate existing dispositions, habits and assumptions rather than redirect or challenge them. By contrast, design for change and design that seeks to innovate, like action research, are pursued with an explicit intention of achieving desired social or organizational ends. In particular, design’s capacity to creatively reframe issues and contexts for action has been increasingly mobilized as a resource in addressing complex and wicked problems, especially in business and in social change contexts. Regardless of the effectiveness of particular design strategies, the agency of designed things commonly exceeds the intentions of the designer. For this reason, explicit reflection is essential within design for change scenarios. Action research methodology has been recognized for its value to designers in supplying a framework for explicit and critical reflection within the cycle of design.

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