TAD4541 - Research methods in design

Offered

Caulfield First semester 2008 (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