[LiU design] Kriterier för designuppsatser

[Mattias Arvola]

Hej alla designlärare!

Jag började med några kollegor i interaktionsdesign diskutera kriterier för uppsatser i desing. Det resulterade i en lång epostväxling som jag sedan sammanställt. Jag tänkte hör hur ni ser på de kriterier vi nådde fram till. Är det något ni skulle vilja ta bort, ändra eller lägga till ur ert perspektiv? 

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What can be expected from an undergraduate thesis in design (that may differ from other subjects)? 

• A pragmatic worldview: Truth is what works in this real world situation from multiple perspectives (aesthetically, practically, technically, ethically etc.)?
• Field work – sketch and prototype – user test: an established approach (emphasis may be on some parts of the process)
• Usually qualitative or mixed methods research
• Process description and motivation of central design decisions (grounded in documentation in e.g. idea log, annotated sketchbook, diary)
• Problem discovery by field work and sketching (research question on what the problems are and not only on what solutions there are, and the appropriateness of solutions)
• Empirical validation of design results in e.g. user tests
• Lessons learned applicable to others and other design situations (discussion on generalizability/transferability)
• Core design idea articulated and related to other designs, and novelty highlighted

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What can *also* be expected from a master thesis in design?

• Possibly other worldviews:
    • Advocacy/participatory, as in action research
    • Critical, focusing on power structures and social critique
    • Social constructivist, focusing on meaning construed between designer/researcher and other stakeholders
    • Less likely: Post-positivist, focusing on testing the probable truth of hypotheses in experimental setups
• Analytical and theoretical validation of design results
• A higher degree of analysis of the process documentation (e.g. content analysis)
• Novel or even new core design ideas related to the ”idea history” of other designs, and contributing to, developing, or challenging earlier ideas


Hälsningar 
 
Mattias Arvola 
Docent i kognitionsvetenskap  
SICS East Swedish ICT Research Faculty
Institutionen för datavetenskap 
Linköpings universitet 
Tel 013-28 57 03 
www.arvola.se