TAD4521

Research methods in design ( 6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Dr Vivien Gaston

Offered:
Caulfield First semester 2005 (Day)

Synopsis: The topics cover a wide range of areas, which may include simple techniques in information technology and efficient management of bibliographic resources, but will also extend to discussions of topics such as postmodern theory, difference studies, structuralist theory, poststructural writing, literary criticism, deconstruction, and paradoxes in the histories of otherness. Positivist paradigms of knowledge and research are critically examined for their applicability to the realm of design.

Objectives: On successful completion of this unit, students will: 1.be aware of current discourses in a range of disciplines which bear on contemporary design; 2.be able to pursue critical arguments with a sense of their ideological relativity; 3.assess the bias of an investigative method, considering gender, class and ethnicity; 4.understand methodology as a critique of method and be able to practice criticism in their chosen field; 5.be ready to explain the basis of designs or art works not merely as the outcome of practical constraints but the expression of cultural values.

Assessment: Class paper (2000 words):30% + Class paper (4000 words:70%

Contact Hours: Three hours of lectures and seminars and nine hours of independent study per week

Prerequisites: Either TAD3211 or TAD3207 or TAD3217 or TAD3209