Abstract
To unravel the complex challenges addressed by design, oftentimes it can be necessary for researchers to participate in design processes rather than make observations from outside. However, ‘participation’ has different meanings in different kinds of design research, and research outcomes will depend on the form of participation chosen. Through a Dimensional Analysis, we establish seven dimensions on how participation in design research can be classified in terms of 1) the researcher-designer role, 2) the aim of the project, 3) the main contribution, 4) the activities of the researcher, 5) if it is a single or multi-case study, 6) the scientific reporting on the project, and 7) the kind of knowledge produced. This overview aims to assist researchers in communicating how choices for a particular participatory approach contribute to knowledge production in design research. • An overview of Participation in design research. • Seven dimensions to understand and describe participation of researchers. • Each dimension provides distinct consequences for knowledge production.
Highlights
In order to fully understand the roles and contributions of design in complex settings, it can be necessary to participate in design processes rather than only observing them from the outside
This paper aims to characterise how participation in design research can contribute to knowledge production
Since participation is an ambiguous concept in itself with very different meanings, we applied a Dimensional Analysis to establish an overview on how participation in design research can be classified in terms of 1) the researcher-designer role, 2) the aim of the project, 3) the main contribution, 4) the activities of the researcher, 5) if it is a single or multi-case study, 6) the scientific reporting on the project, and 7) kind of knowledge produced
Summary
We use Dimensional Analysis (Kools et al, 1996) to unfold the various dimensions of participation in design research. As empirical data points we selected a wide variety of cases from different design researchers using participation, to question the many ways one might understand ‘participation’ in design research. For us the method became a way of sharing case experiences and to establish a shared vocabulary while we ordered and named cases along multiple, alternating dimensions The primary perspective that emerged from the Dimensional Analysis was that ‘various researcher-designer roles contribute differently to scientific knowledge production in participation in design research’ (see Table 1). One might find their own cases to be positioned all over the spectrum, with more nuances
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