Designing Design Research 2


Professor Nigel Cross
Professor Nigel Cross
Editor,
DESIGN STUDIES Journal.

Profile

Nigel Cross is Professor of Design Studies and Head of the Department of Design and Innovation at the Faculty of Technology, The Open University, UK. The Department was awarded Grade 5 ratings in the two most recent UK Government research quality assessment exercises (1992 and 1996). Nigel Cross has been a member of the academic staff of the UK's pioneering, multi-media distance-learning Open University since 1970, where he has been responsible for, or instrumental in, a wide range of courses in design and technology. He has an international reputation in design research, especially in fields of design methodology and the study of design cognition. Professor Cross is Editor-in-Chief of the international research journal, Design Studies, published quarterly by Elsevier Science in cooperation with the Design Research Society.

Contact:Professor Nigel Cross (n.g.cross@open.ac.uk)
Department of Design and Innovation, Faculty of Technology,
The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
Phone (+44)/(0) 1908 652944 Fax (+44)/(0) 1908 654052

Key Points - The Refereed Journal

"I welcome articles with direct contact with industry, and we are also looking for (in Design Studies) work outside a scientific journal, although we do not stray far from this."

"Exploratory practical work (as design research) is good alternative to conventional practice. I do not go along with a view often promoted in higher education that teachers of design have to be practitioners."

Design Studies Journal

Design Studies is published by Elsevier Science in association with the Design Research Society. The journal is unique in the breadth of its coverage; it is concerned with common features of design practice and experience across all the domains - engineering design, architectural design, product design and systems design.

Design Studies reflects the goals of the Design Research Society, which are:

  • to promote communication across the boundaries of all design disciplines
  • to provide a forum to exchange and communicate ideas, experience and research findings
  • to promote the improvement of practical design performance in all its aspects
  • to contribute to the development of a coherent body of scholarship and knowledge in design.

    In the journal, we seek to publish papers that are reporting new research or scholarship, in a form that helps to build the underlying discipline of design, and that communicate across domain boundaries.

    The current situation in terms of the receipt, acceptance and rejection of papers is that we receive between 40 and 50 papers per year. In 1997 we published 27 papers; in 1996 we published 26 papers; so the acceptance rate is about 60%. Papers are rejected usually because they do not meet our expected standards of scholarship, or because they are inappropriate for this particular journal.

    Papers are accepted or rejected as a result of the refereeing process. We are immensely reliant upon, and grateful to our referees, who do it for no reward. It is a feature of academic life that there is a community of peers against whose views your work is judged.

    These are the main questions we ask all referees to use in their assessment:

  • What are the valuable features of the paper? This is a matter of the referee's informed opinion. As far as you know, has this material been published before? We are looking for original work, not material that is already published.
  • Are the content and style of the paper appropriate to Design Studies? We are looking for scholarly, design-orientated papers, accessible to a broad readership.
  • Do you recommend revisions prior to publication? Revisions might be suggested for improving clarity, or for strengthening or adapting certain sections of the paper, or to meet the goals of the journal.
  • Are the references adequate?

    One of the goals of the journal is to develop a coherent body of scholarship, and so referring to and building upon previously published work (especially that published in this journal) is an important criterion.

    Of course, the quality of published papers in any journal is variable. But I believe that we see a rising quality in the papers that we publish in Design Studies, and the journal has a very strong, international reputation. The introduction, some ten years ago, of the annual Design Studies Award, funded jointly by Elsevier and the Design Research Society, helps us to identify and publicise the highest standards that we achieve.

    OHP's
    Design Studies Journal The international journal
    for
    design research
    in:
  • engineering
  • architecture
  • products
  • systems

    Published by Elsevier Science
    in coopertion with the
    Design Research Society.

    • Design Studies reflects the goals of the Design Research Society, which are:

  • to promote communication across the boundaries of all design disciplines
  • to provide a forum to exchange and communicate ideas, expereince and research findings,
  • to promote the improvement of practical design performance in all its aspects,
  • to contribute to the development of a coherent body of scholarship and knowledge in design.

    • Some special issues:

  • Descriptive Models of Design(Vol.18,No.4,1997)
  • Design Cognition and Computation(Vol. 17, No.4,1996)
  • Research in the UK Engineering Design Centres (Vol.16, No 4, 1995)
  • Analysing Design Activity (Vol.16, No 2, 1995)
    • Papers

    We receive between 40 and 50 papers each year.

    In 1997 we published 27 papers; in 1996 26 papers;

    So the acceptance rate is about 60%.

    Papers are rejected usually because they do not meet our expected standards of scholarship, or because they are inappropriate for this particular journal.

    Questions asked of referees:

  • What are the valuable fetures of the paper?
  • As far as you know, has the material been published before
  • Are the content and style of the paper appropriate to Design Studies?
  • Do you recommned revsions prior to publication?
  • Are the references adequate?

    Please grade the paper on a scale from

  • 1 (definately publish) to
  • 5 (definately reject)
    • Some reasons for rejection:

  • Literature is dated
  • Desputable assumptions presented as generally accepted truths
  • Authors must be clearer about method,
    about evidence for claims
    and do a literature review
  • Lacks rigour - needs a series of meaningful connected experiments rather than anecdotes
  • lacks quantitative analysis of results
  • Poorly written
    - difficult to follow
    - terms not adequely defined.
  • Insufficient new knowledge
  • Reads like a project report updates and further work proposal.
    • Criteria for research:

  • Purposive
    - based on identification of an issue or problem worthy and capable of investigation
  • Inquistive
    - seeking to acquire new knowledge
  • Informed
    - conducted from an awareness of previous related research
  • methodical
    - planned and carried out ina disciplined manner
  • Communicable
    - generating and reporting results which are testable and accessible by others.

    • Please use the following to cite material from Designing Design Research 2.

    Author(s), "Title of Paper", in Designing Design Research 2:The Design Research Publication, Cyberbridge-4D Design at www.4d-dynamics.net/DDR2, Editor- Alec Robertson, 26 February 1998.

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