Abstract

Research will play an important role in art and design education as the number of art and design research degree student increases. Yet ‘the relationship between creativepractical work and research protocols still remains a contentious issue’ stated Hockey. The missing link between researched theory and creative practice has been unable to develop the depth and relevance of students’ creative practice. From the perspective of Asian undergraduate studies, this paper seeks to explore students’ abilities and knowledge of research methodologies. This paper is not proposing a method or a solution to bridge the disconnection between researched theory and creative practice. But rather, it aims to establish whether the issues in question exist in the field of visual communication. This paper reports on the development, pilot testing and initial result of the research. A pilot test with eleven samples was conducted using qualitative research method. The study used five main steps of the ‘developing grounded theory through the case study method’ by Berg (2009): Research Idea, Design, Data Collection, Analysis, and Reflection. The samples taken are from one school as teaching approaches and learning directions differs in other schools. The collected data is then analyzed by the content analysis method and NVivo 9 is used to organise and code the collected data. Initial result shows that there is a disconnection between researched theory and creative practice in the area of visual communication and the key factors are due to students: a) limited knowledge of research methods and theories, b) incapability of applying theories to creative practice and, c) inadequate understanding of research report structure. Data gathered and initial result are presented in a simplified form for analysis and discussion.

Keywords

research theory, creative practice, visual communication

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Jul 1st, 12:00 AM

A Pilot Study to Investigate the Disconnection between Researched Theory and Creative Practice in Visual Communication Research Projects

Research will play an important role in art and design education as the number of art and design research degree student increases. Yet ‘the relationship between creativepractical work and research protocols still remains a contentious issue’ stated Hockey. The missing link between researched theory and creative practice has been unable to develop the depth and relevance of students’ creative practice. From the perspective of Asian undergraduate studies, this paper seeks to explore students’ abilities and knowledge of research methodologies. This paper is not proposing a method or a solution to bridge the disconnection between researched theory and creative practice. But rather, it aims to establish whether the issues in question exist in the field of visual communication. This paper reports on the development, pilot testing and initial result of the research. A pilot test with eleven samples was conducted using qualitative research method. The study used five main steps of the ‘developing grounded theory through the case study method’ by Berg (2009): Research Idea, Design, Data Collection, Analysis, and Reflection. The samples taken are from one school as teaching approaches and learning directions differs in other schools. The collected data is then analyzed by the content analysis method and NVivo 9 is used to organise and code the collected data. Initial result shows that there is a disconnection between researched theory and creative practice in the area of visual communication and the key factors are due to students: a) limited knowledge of research methods and theories, b) incapability of applying theories to creative practice and, c) inadequate understanding of research report structure. Data gathered and initial result are presented in a simplified form for analysis and discussion.

 

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