College of Design - PhD in Design Program
DDN 701 Research Methods in Design
Instructor: Perver K. Baran, PhD

Course Description:

This course examines basic research methods in the field of design. As an introductory course, it is intended to provide students with a foundation for reading, understanding, and using design research, and for taking advanced courses in research methods. Students systematically investigate alternative research strategies and become familiar with broad range of research methods frequently used in design research. Course readings cover major research designs/strategies and present sample of recent articles from major journals in design and related fields that utilize each research design.

By the end of the course students are acquired with the following skills:

• A knowledge of the broad range of alternative approaches to design research.
• An ability to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of various research designs.
• An appreciation of multiple methods and perspectives in analyzing problems.
• A recognition that theory, epistemology, and methodology are interrelated features of the inquiry endeavor.
• Establish a common context of knowledge and terminology within which discussions of the various research designs occur.
• An ability to transform a problem or question into a plan of research.

A Sample of Work by Students:

As a major course work each student develops a research proposal. For this assignment, students select a problem area of interest to them, develop a research design for investigating it, and conduct a pilot study. The research proposal includes the following: description of problem area; literature review, critique, and analysis; conceptual framework and research questions; research design; and analysis of and rational for the proposed research design and the particular forms in which the methods are employed. The pilot study involves a modest test case of proposed research methods. Bellow is a sample of students' work.

Jae Young Lee. "The Common Patterns in Female Consumers' Advertisement Experiences and Variation in Visual Rhetorical Figures." Spring 2006.

Jennifer Anderson. "Exploring Common Modes of Communication in Face-to-Face Student Collaboration." Spring 2006.

Zeynep Cigdem Uysal. "'Architectural Type' as a Cultural Schema and its Synectic Use in Architectural Design: Sedat Hakki Eldem's Typological Architecture in the Pursuit of Cultural Identity." Spring 2006.

Daryl K. Carrington. "Performance Evaluation of Transmittance Control Systems for Roof Aperture Assemblies." Spring 2003.

Sudeshna Chatterjee. "Exploring the Relationship between Children's Participation in Design and Affordance of Behavior Settings." Spring 2003.

Ryan Hargrove. "Exploring the role of design educational styles in students' thinking processes." Spring 2005.

Amy Ryan. "Historical Roots of the Bethabara Hortus Medicus: A Research Proposal." Spring 2004