Notes: Leedy-what is research

Research the word connotes finding an item of information or making notes and then writing a documented paper. In other situations, it refers to the act of informing oneself about what one does not know, perhaps by rummaging through available sources to retrieve a bit of information.

WHAT RESEARCH Is NOT

1. Research is not mere information gathering
2. Research is not mere transportation of facts from one location to another.
3. Research is not merely rummaging for information.
4. Research is not a catchword used to get attention.

WHAT RESEARCH Is

Research is a systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information (data) in
order to increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are interested or concerned.

Focus on formal research, research in which we intentionally set out to enhance our understanding of a phenomenon and expect to communicate what we discover to the larger scientific community.

I. Research originates with a question or problem.
2. Research requires clear articulation of a goal.
3. Research requires a specific plan for proceeding.
4. Research usually divides the principal problem into more manageable sub problems.
5. Research is guided by the specific research problem, question, or hypothesis.
6. Research accepts certain critical assumptions.
7. Research requires the collection and interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve the
problem that initiated the research.
8. Research is, by its nature, cyclical or, more exactly, helical.


Step 1: Research begins with a problem: an unanswered question in the mind of the researcher.

Step 2: Research defines the goal in terms of a clear statement of the problem.

Step 3:Research subdivides the problem into appropriate sub problems. No examples

Step 4: Research posits tentative solutions to the problem(s) through reasonable hypotheses. These hypotheses direct the researcher to appropriate data

Step 5: Research looks for data directed by the hypotheses and guided by the problem the data are collected and organized.

Step 6: Research interprets the meaning of the data, which leads to a resolution of the problem, thus confirming or rejecting the hypotheses and/or providing an answer to the question that began the research cycle. At this point, one or more new problems may emerge.

Note: Swanson- Design As Liberal Art

GRAPHIC DESIGN EDUCATION

In light of this tendency toward professionalism, it may seem counterintuitive that I suggest that we not only increase the augmentation of design training with more liberal studies, but also reconsider graphic design educations a liberal arts subject.

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE LIBERAL ARTS

Aristotle defined the liberal arts as having four points. First, they are not mechanical. Second, they are not utilitarian, i.e., they have intrinsic value; even if extrinsically useful, their pursuit is useful in and of itself. Third, if an area of study is undertaken as a liberal study, there must be no specializing that would restrict the mind. Finally, liberal arts study must be undertaken for its intrinsic value, not merely to earn a living or to impress others.

COLLEGE EDUCATION TODAY

On the whole, design schooling has not helped students become broader thinking people who can help shape a democratic society. The tools for analysis and Insight of many disciplines have broad extra -disciplinary application for understanding the world. The tools of graphic design do not seem to serve much purpose beyond a graphic design career. Graphic design education is not, for the most part, education. It is vocational training, and rather narrow specialized training at that.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR A CHANGING VOCATION

Most four-year graphic design programs try to teach something beyond "entry-level skills," but preparing students for their first job is often seen as practical education.

GENERAL EDUCATION AND ADAPTABILITY

The correlation between general education and adaptability makes a belief in general education for designers widespread, although hardly ubiquitous.

GRAPHIC DESIGN AS A LIBERAL ART

Art and education can both benefit through the perspective of a field that is about expression and the mass dissemination of information

DESIGN AND SCHOLARSHIP

Clearly, most design programs would include a significant concentration on skills. This would hardly be unique to academia-language programs do not hesitate to have students conjugate verbs.

Buchanan has suggested rhetoric as the closest available model for design. 14 Rhetoric, as a field of study, is both the practice of verbal persuasion and the formal study of persuasive verbal communication.

The formal procedures of rhetorical study should be applied to graphic design to the exclusion of all others. Grammatical l, semiotic, theatrical, anthropological, psychological l, physiological, philosophical , and political perspectives also need to be considered.

DESIGN AS A LIBERAL ART VERSUS DESIGN PLUS LIBERAL ARTS

Research into issues of typography and understanding, for instance, generally misses the questions a designer would ask. (Broad categories, such as sans serif typefaces, are often assumed to be homogeneous, alternative design solutions are rarely considered, etc.)
BALANCING SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING

A primary task of design education is to find the balance between skills training and a general understanding that will benefit students, the field of graphic design, and working professionals.

Design as a professional practice has often bridged fields as diverse as engineering, marketing, education, and psychology. Design as an academic study can