Donald Schön's Ideas in Design Research: Synchronies and Asynchronies

Abstract

This text offers a quantitative and qualitative approach to the theoretical reflection on the discipline of design, with an emphasis on the work of philosopher and learning theorist Donald A. Schön (1930-1997), about whom there is consensus —among researchers, historians, and design theorists— regarding his influence and significance in the development of the theoretical body of the discipline. 

The inquiry builds on the results of a previous study, where a taxonomy was established to characterize design research, identifying three types of theoretical approaches: epistemological, praxiological, and phenomenological. This taxonomy was derived from the characterization of research topics/issues presented in the papers published in the Proceedings of the Design Research Conferences of the Design Research Society (drs) between 1962 (the first Conference on Design Methods) and 2020 (the drs Brisbane Conference, Australia). 

In the present paper, which complements an ongoing process, the connections between Schön's ideas, contained in his text The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action —the main text cited in those papers during the period— will be explored, along with its function as a foundation or reference for the various theoretical approaches.