TAD4541

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

Leader:

Offered:
Caulfield First semester 2006 (Day)

Synopsis: The topics include simple techniques in information technology and efficient management of bibliographic resources, and extend to discussions of topics such as postmodern theory, difference studies, structuralist theory, post-structural 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: 2 hours a week of lectures and seminars, plus 10 hours a week of class paper preparation, library research and independent study

Prerequisites: admission to MDes by coursework

Prohibitions: TAD4521