Methodological bricolage: What does it tell us about design?

Yee, Joyce and Bremner, Craig (2011) Methodological bricolage: What does it tell us about design? In: Doctoral Design Education Conference, 23-25 May 2011, Hong Kong Polytechnic, Hong Kong.

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Abstract

This paper explores an approach to design research that is becoming more prevalent in practice-based doctoral studies and examines what it tells us about the current state of design research. A previous examination of design PhD case studies has shown that the bricolage approach is evident in a majority of contemporary practice-based design PhDs [1]. The usual academic norm of using an established method or methodology is often discarded in favour of a ‘pick and mix’ approach to select and apply the most appropriate methods. Does it suggest a discipline in crisis, where existing methods are unfit for purpose? Or does this suggest that design as a discipline is maturing and developing a distinct research model? Is design undisciplined? The paper answers these questions by proposing that design researchers navigate a complex, indeterminate and temporal framework where the bricoleur is the best operative.

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