Design Research (design + research)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


System design in normative and actual practice: A comparative study of cognitive task allocation in advanced manufacturing systems

HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 2 2004
Sotiris Papantonopoulos
The Human Factors Engineering approach to human-machine system design is based largely on normative design methods. This article suggests that the scope of Human Factors Engineering shall be extended to the descriptive study of system design in actual practice by the application of theoretical frameworks that emphasize the role of the system-design practitioner and organization in the design process. A comparative study of system design in normative and actual practice was conducted in the design of cognitive task allocation in a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) cell. The study showed that the designers' allocation decisions were influenced strongly by factors related to their own design practices, yet exogenous to the tasks to be allocated. Theoretical frameworks from Design Research were applied to illustrate differences between normative and actual practice of system design. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 14: 181,196, 2004. [source]


Interior Design at a Crossroads: Embracing Specificity through Process, Research, and Knowledge,

JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN, Issue 3 2008
Tiiu Poldma Ph.D.
Tiiu Poldma is Vice Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Environmental Design, and associate professor at the School of Industrial Design at the University of Montreal. Tiiu Poldma received a BID at Ryerson in 1982 (Toronto), MA in Culture and Values in Education in 1999 and Doctor of Philosophy in 2003, both from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She teaches interior design studio and theory within the Bachelor of Interior Design program at the University of Montreal, and advanced research methodologies in the Masters of Science and Ph.D. programs at the Faculty of Environmental Design. She is currently the Director of the Research Group GRID(Group for Research in Illumination and Design) and heads up the Colour, Light and Form Lab (Laboratoire Forme*couleur*lumiere) at the faculty. She accredits design programs as a site evaluator for CIDAboth in Canada and the United States, and is also a member of the Editorial Board of Inderscience where she is the Regional Editor of the Journal of Design Research (JDR), and serves on the Editorial Board of Design/Science/Planning (Techne Press, Amsterdam). [source]


Empirical Design Research: Student Definitions, Perceptions, and Values

JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN, Issue 2 2007
Joan I. Dickinson Ph.D.
ABSTRACT Third and fourth year undergraduate interior design students in Colleges of Architecture or Human Sciences at three different research universities were surveyed to compare their: (1) perceived value of research in interior design practice, (2) perceptions of who should conduct research, (3) attitudes toward research in interior design education, and (4) definitions of research. A survey instrument was developed that consisted of one open-ended question and 29 questions using a Likert scale. Questions were adapted from the Chenoweth and Chidister (1983) scale that measured landscape architecture attitudes toward research, and from the Dickson and White (1993) scale administered to interior design practicing professionals. A total of 89 undergraduate students were surveyed from the three universities. The majority of the students were Caucasian (n = 79) and female (n = 84). The results indicated that, overall, students valued research for the profession regardless of their college or university affiliation. However, their definitions of research were pragmatic in nature, and they often regarded research as the gathering of information rather than the generation of new knowledge. The students were also unclear about who should be conducting interior design research. College affiliation revealed that students who were in an architecturally-based program put a higher value on research at the undergraduate level than those students housed in a College of Human Sciences; similarly, College of Architecture students had a better understanding that research advanced a profession. [source]


Computatonal Intelligence: The Grid as a Post-Human Network

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 5 2006
Philippe Morel
Abstract Research and design collaborative EZCT Architecture & Design Research has adopted grid computing to produce a series of furniture systems and other small-scale prototypes using genetic algorithms in combination with automated fabrication technologies. Here, cofounder Philippe Morel relates this design practice to the broader technical and social implications of various grid-computing projects, such as the online organisation Folding@Home, which utilises grid computing and distributed communities for the production and exchange of postindustrial knowledge. He argues that these ,knowledge farms' which create an ,ambient factory', are perhaps the ultimate form of social-economic production, transforming not only the evolution of design but of the communities that produce and eventually consume its products. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Packaging design, consumer research, and business strategy: The march toward accountability

DESIGN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2002
Scott Young
It may not be science, but there are research techniques to measure the effectiveness and leverage the results of package designs. Scott Young articulates the possibilities, the limits, and the best uses of this type of design research. Perhaps more valuable, he recommends specific steps managers can take to build collaborative and productive relationships among designers, experts in research, and decision makers in marketing and sales. [source]


Empirical Design Research: Student Definitions, Perceptions, and Values

JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN, Issue 2 2007
Joan I. Dickinson Ph.D.
ABSTRACT Third and fourth year undergraduate interior design students in Colleges of Architecture or Human Sciences at three different research universities were surveyed to compare their: (1) perceived value of research in interior design practice, (2) perceptions of who should conduct research, (3) attitudes toward research in interior design education, and (4) definitions of research. A survey instrument was developed that consisted of one open-ended question and 29 questions using a Likert scale. Questions were adapted from the Chenoweth and Chidister (1983) scale that measured landscape architecture attitudes toward research, and from the Dickson and White (1993) scale administered to interior design practicing professionals. A total of 89 undergraduate students were surveyed from the three universities. The majority of the students were Caucasian (n = 79) and female (n = 84). The results indicated that, overall, students valued research for the profession regardless of their college or university affiliation. However, their definitions of research were pragmatic in nature, and they often regarded research as the gathering of information rather than the generation of new knowledge. The students were also unclear about who should be conducting interior design research. College affiliation revealed that students who were in an architecturally-based program put a higher value on research at the undergraduate level than those students housed in a College of Human Sciences; similarly, College of Architecture students had a better understanding that research advanced a profession. [source]


FI Catalysts: new olefin polymerization catalysts for the creation of value-added polymers

THE CHEMICAL RECORD, Issue 3 2004
Makoto Mitani
Abstract This contribution reports the discovery and application of phenoxy,imine-based catalysts for olefin polymerization. Ligand-oriented catalyst design research has led to the discovery of remarkably active ethylene polymerization catalysts (FI Catalysts), which are based on electronically flexible phenoxy,imine chelate ligands combined with early transition metals. Upon activation with appropriate cocatalysts, FI Catalysts can exhibit unique polymerization catalysis (e.g., precise control of product molecular weights, highly isospecific and syndiospecific propylene polymerization, regio-irregular polymerization of higher ,-olefins, highly controlled living polymerization of both ethylene and propylene at elevated temperatures, and precise control over polymer morphology) and thus provide extraordinary opportunities for the syntheses of value-added polymers with distinctive architectural characteristics. Many of the polymers that are available via the use of FI Catalysts were previously inaccessible through other means of polymerization. For example, FI Catalysts can form vinyl-terminated low molecular weight polyethylenes, ultra-high molecular weight amorphous ethylene,propylene copolymers and atactic polypropylenes, highly isotactic and syndiotactic polypropylenes with exceptionally high peak melting temperatures, well-defined and controlled multimodal polyethylenes, and high molecular weight regio-irregular poly(higher ,-olefin)s. In addition, FI Catalysts combined with MgCl2 -based compounds can produce polymers that exhibit desirable morphological features (e.g., very high bulk density polyethylenes and highly controlled particle-size polyethylenes) that are difficult to obtain with conventionally supported catalysts. In addition, FI Catalysts are capable of creating a large variety of living-polymerization-based polymers, including terminally functionalized polymers and block copolymers from ethylene, propylene, and higher ,-olefins. Furthermore, some of the FI Catalysts can furnish living-polymerization-based polymers catalytically by combination with appropriate chain transfer agents. Therefore, the development of FI Catalysts has enabled some crucial advances in the fields of polymerization catalysis and polymer syntheses. © 2004 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chem Rec 4: 137,158; 2004: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/tcr.20010 [source]


Twenty Years After (Deconstructivism): An Interview with Bernard Tschumi

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 1 2009
Michele Costanzo
Abstract Michele Costanzo interviews Bernard Tschumi about his work and his vision of the changing field of contemporary design research. How do the younger generation of students receive Tschumi's seminal theoretical works? Is a lack of time merely the current scapegoat for a more considered conceptual approach? How does Tschumi view the proliferation of architectural fetishes in the urban landscape? How is his own theoretical landscape shifting? Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Design efficiency for non-market valuation with choice modelling: how to measure it, what to report and why,

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2008
Riccardo Scarpa
We review the basic principles for the evaluation of design efficiency in discrete choice modelling with a focus on efficiency of WTP estimates from the multinomial logit model. The discussion is developed under the realistic assumption that researchers can plausibly define a prior belief on the range of values for the utility coefficients. D -, A- , B- , S- and C- errors are compared as measures of design performance in applied studies and their rationale is discussed. An empirical example based on the generation and comparison of fifteen separate designs from a common set of assumptions illustrates the relevant considerations to the context of non-market valuation, with particular emphasis placed on C- efficiency. Conclusions are drawn for the practice of reporting in non-market valuation and for future work on design research. [source]


Enhancing instructional design efficiency: Methodologies employed by instructional designers

BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Margaret A. Roytek
Instructional systems design (ISD) has been frequently criticised as taking too long to implement, calling for a reduction in cycle time,the time that elapses between project initiation and delivery. While instructional design research has historically focused on increasing learner efficiencies, the study of what instructional designers do to increase efficiency during the design of instruction, including web-based training, has not yet been fully examined. The purpose of this qualitative developmental study was to identify and understand the methodologies used by experienced instructional designers to increase the efficiency of the instructional design process. Data were gathered from 11 instructional designers working within two business and industry consulting firms that provide learning solutions to global clients. Results revealed 47 efficiency methodologies found within the four categories of design model, instructional design team member roles, instructional design processes and instructional design tools. Additionally, 14 supporting instructional designer competencies were found within the category of instructional designer knowledge, skills and attitudes. [source]