Abstract
This paper claims that whether a work is classified as research is a matter of judgement. This judgement is made by the audience and is evidenced by a change in their practice and by the attribution of that change to the researcher’s work through referencing and the acknowledgement of intellectual property. The contribution made by this paper is to identify that there are three necessary and sufficient conditions for such a judgement. These are that it be appropriately disseminated, contextualised, and have consequential originality. To achieve these conditions it is desirable, but neither necessary nor sufficient for the researcher to have the intention that the work be classified as research. If the former three conditions are met then it is irrelevant whether the “author” intends the work to be research. It is therefore a further outcome of this paper that the judgement and classification of a work as research is an issue of reception, and the role of intention at the point of production is relevant only in increasing the likelihood that the conditions will be met for that reception.
Keywords
practice-led research, research, aesthetics, ontology, production/consumption
Citation
Biggs, M. (2006) Necessary, Unnecessary and Sufficient Conditions, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/90
Necessary, Unnecessary and Sufficient Conditions
This paper claims that whether a work is classified as research is a matter of judgement. This judgement is made by the audience and is evidenced by a change in their practice and by the attribution of that change to the researcher’s work through referencing and the acknowledgement of intellectual property. The contribution made by this paper is to identify that there are three necessary and sufficient conditions for such a judgement. These are that it be appropriately disseminated, contextualised, and have consequential originality. To achieve these conditions it is desirable, but neither necessary nor sufficient for the researcher to have the intention that the work be classified as research. If the former three conditions are met then it is irrelevant whether the “author” intends the work to be research. It is therefore a further outcome of this paper that the judgement and classification of a work as research is an issue of reception, and the role of intention at the point of production is relevant only in increasing the likelihood that the conditions will be met for that reception.