DRS2012 Bangkok Proceedings Vol 4 - Design Research Society

1748 Conference Proceedings
DRS 2012 Bangkok
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand, 1–4 July 2012
Experiments in Design and in Research
Dagmar STEFFEN
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Abstract
In design practice and in design research the term ‘experiment’ is widely used and often
misused. To some extent, this can be ascribed to the fact that the experimental method
comes close to or partly overlaps the approaches of ‘trial and error’ and ‘reflection-inaction’,
as defined by Donald Schön. Nevertheless, these methods or rather approaches
differ in regard to their aims, results, and context of application.
Based on an investigation in design literature and various case examples from practice-led
doctoral research, this paper attempts to highlight the differences between scholarly
experiment,‘trial and error’ and ‘reflection-in-action’. The initial point of this investigation
is from the perspective of the so-called New Experimentalism: a branch of the philosophy
of natural science, and from the work of Ian Hacking that redirected and broadened the
traditional conception of experiment. Hence, the role of creative practice in design
research will be scrutinized from the perspective of New Experimentalism. The goal is to
justify the role of artefacts in practice-led design research and in making and doing
(action, intervention) as an experimental practice that contributes to the creation of
knowledge and the construction of theory.
Keywords: experiment, new experimentalism, reflection-in-action, trial and error,
practice-led design research