Abstract
Practice theory (Reckwitz, 2002) provides an alternative to three approaches that currently dominate the study of culture: culturalist mentalism, textualism, intersubjectivism. Practice theory looks to background practices as the basis of our shared understanding of the world. Practices are routine forms of behaviour consisting of interconnected forms of bodily activities, mental activities, ‘things’ in use, and background understanding in the form of know-how, moods, feelings and motivations. There is significant potential within practice theory to account for phenomena that design practitioners and researchers have long recognised as being central to understanding of design activity. These phenomena include tacit knowledge, insight and the emergence of new artefacts and practices. Practice theory embraces diverse range of theorists including Heidegger (1962), Wittgenstein (1968) and Schatzki (1996). Much of the published work in this area is oriented toward the articulation of the ontological position of the researcher or the applied investigations of social phenomena. The research practices appropriate to modes of qualitative enquiry consistent with this ontology are yet to be adequately recognised and articulated. The discussion in this paper is guided by the following questions: What are the research practices appropriate to praxeological enquiry? How do these apply to research by design? I do not propose to offer a comprehensive response to these questions – practice theory is as yet an emerging paradigm. I will, however, discuss three constructs that I consider to be helpful in sensitising the researcher to the structure of practices and perspectives – disturbance, dialog and metaphor. I discuss the relevance of these constructs to design enquiry, with particular reference to issues confronted by the design practitioner- researcher.
Keywords
Practice theory; phenomenology; practice led research; Heidegger, Gadamer
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2009.108
Citation
McLaughlin, S.(2009) Disturbance, Dialogue and Metaphor: the Study of Practices and Perspectives through Design Enquiry, in Niedderer, K., Reilly, L., Roworth-Stokes, S., Smith, C. (eds.), EKSIG 2009: Experiential Knowledge, Method & Methodology, 19 June 2009, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2009.108
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Disturbance, Dialogue and Metaphor: the Study of Practices and Perspectives through Design Enquiry
Practice theory (Reckwitz, 2002) provides an alternative to three approaches that currently dominate the study of culture: culturalist mentalism, textualism, intersubjectivism. Practice theory looks to background practices as the basis of our shared understanding of the world. Practices are routine forms of behaviour consisting of interconnected forms of bodily activities, mental activities, ‘things’ in use, and background understanding in the form of know-how, moods, feelings and motivations. There is significant potential within practice theory to account for phenomena that design practitioners and researchers have long recognised as being central to understanding of design activity. These phenomena include tacit knowledge, insight and the emergence of new artefacts and practices. Practice theory embraces diverse range of theorists including Heidegger (1962), Wittgenstein (1968) and Schatzki (1996). Much of the published work in this area is oriented toward the articulation of the ontological position of the researcher or the applied investigations of social phenomena. The research practices appropriate to modes of qualitative enquiry consistent with this ontology are yet to be adequately recognised and articulated. The discussion in this paper is guided by the following questions: What are the research practices appropriate to praxeological enquiry? How do these apply to research by design? I do not propose to offer a comprehensive response to these questions – practice theory is as yet an emerging paradigm. I will, however, discuss three constructs that I consider to be helpful in sensitising the researcher to the structure of practices and perspectives – disturbance, dialog and metaphor. I discuss the relevance of these constructs to design enquiry, with particular reference to issues confronted by the design practitioner- researcher.