TAD4503

Research methods in art and design

6 points
* 3 hours of lectures and tutorials and 9 independent study hours per week
* First semester
* Caulfield
* Prerequisites: Completion of the relevant third-year subjects

Objectives On successful completion of this subject, students should be aware of current discourses in a range of disciplines which bear on contemporary visual production in art and design; be able to pursue critical arguments with a sense of their ideological relativity; assess the bias of an investigative method, considering gender, class and ethnicity; understand methodology as a critique of method and be able to practice criticism in their chosen field; identify assumptions inherent in the formulation of critical questions and cultivate caution against prejudicing the outcomes of research by foreclosing on the terms of inquiry; 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; be keen to discuss the values of their discipline beyond the contingencies of professional practice, identifying the nature of research in their discipline which distinguishes it from the processes of professional practice.

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, the classical distinction between iconography and iconology, poststructural writing, literary criticism, deconstruction, paradoxes in the histories of otherness, the critique of mainstream histories and dominant ideology. Positivist paradigms of knowledge and research are critically examined for their applicability to the practicing arts.

Assessment Assignments - two written papers: 30% and 70%

References
Jones L S Art information: Research methods and resources 3rd edn, Kendall/Hunt, c1990
Pollard E B Visual arts research: A handbook Greenwood Press, 1986