scholarly journals Research methods in Engineering Design: A systematic literature review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Escudero Mancebo ◽  
Nieves Fernández Villalobos ◽  
Óscar Martín Llorente ◽  
Alejandra Martínez-Monés
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Empirical Approaches ◽  
Phd Programs ◽  
Collection Methods ◽  
Clear Relation

The relation between scientific research and industrial design is fraught with controversy. While the number of academic PhD programs on product design grows because the discipline is in its infancy, there is no consolidated method for systematically approaching the generation of knowledge in this domain. This paper aims to review recently published papers from the four top-ranked journals in engineering design in order to analyse the research methods that are frequently used. The research questions consider the aim and contributions of the papers, as well as which experimental design and which sources of data are being used. Frequency tables show the high variety of approaches and aims of the papers, combining both qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches and analytical methods. Most of the papers focus on methodological concerns or on delving into a particular aspect of the design process. Data collection methods are also diverse without a clear relation between the type of method and the objective or strategy of the research. This paper aims to act as a valuable resource for academics, providing definitions related to research methods and referencing examples, and for researchers, shedding light on some of the weaknesses and challenges for current research in the domain of engineering design.

scholarly journals Yours, Mine and Ours: Theorizing the Global Articulation of Qualitative Research Methods and Academic Disciplines

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan C. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Qualitative Research Methods ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Professional Discipline ◽  
Academic Communities ◽  
Research Questions

<p>Two current forms of globalization are inherently interesting to academic qualitative researchers. The first is <em>the globalization of qualitative research methods </em>themselves. The second is <em>the globalization of academic disciplines </em>in which those methods are institutionalized as a valuable resource for professional practices of teaching and scholarly research. This essay argues that patterns in existing discussion of these two trends create an opportunity for innovative scholarship. That opportunity involves reflexively leveraging qualitative research methods to study the simultaneous negotiation by academic communities of <em>both </em>qualitative methods <em>and </em>their professional discipline. Five theories that serve to develop this opportunity are reviewed, focusing on their related benefits and limitations, and the specific research questions they yield. The essay concludes by synthesizing distinctive commitments of this proposed research program.</p>

scholarly journals The politicization of research methods, illustrated in the case of plant closures

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Sally A. Weller
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Economic Geography ◽  
Research Practices ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
The Future ◽  
Plant Closures ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Policy Engagement ◽  
Contemporary Context

AbstractThis paper contributes to building better methods in economic geography by examining the coevolution of theory, methodology, and should read methodology, and the practice of research methods with the policy context. The paper suggests that debates about how economic geography defines its theoretical and methodological boundaries have not been sufficiently cognizant of the effects of policy engagement. It posits that the politicized contemporary context is aligning research practices to policy constituencies, reshaping research questions, altering the criteria of research validity, increasing the division between qualitative and quantitative approaches, and solidifying divisions between different sub-branches of the discipline. This process is illustrated by way of a genealogy of studies of plant closures. The conclusion links these changes to questions about the future of the discipline.

scholarly journals From the Editor

Projections ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. v-vi
Author(s):  
Ted Nannicelli
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Film Music ◽  
Third Culture ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Feature Films ◽  
Machine Learning Model ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Method Approach

This issue of Projections features an impressive diversity of research questions and research methods. In our first article, Timothy Justus investigates the question of how film music represents meaning from three distinct methodological perspectives—music theory, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Following a model of naturalized aesthetics proposed by Murray Smith in Film, Art, and the Third Culture (see the book symposium in Projections 12.2), Justus argues for the importance of “triangulating” the methods and approaches of each field—more generally, of the humanities, the behavioral sciences, and the natural sciences. Our second article, by Gal Raz, Giancarlo Valente, Michele Svanera, Sergio Benini, and András Bálint Kovács, also explores the effects fostered by a specific formal device of cinema—in this case, shot-scale. And again, distinct research methods are put to complementary use. Raz and colleagues’ starting point is a desire to empirically test a hypothesis advanced by art historians Alois Riegl and Heinrich Wölfflin. To do this, they apply a machine-learning model to neurological data supplied by a set of fMRI scans. Methodology is the explicit topic of our third article, by Jose Cañas-Bajo, Teresa Cañas-Bajo, Juri-Petri Valtanen, and Pertti Saariluoma, who outline a new mixed (qualitative and quantitative) method approach to the study of how feature films elicit viewer interest.

Investigating Language Use Through Corpusbased Analyses of Association Patterns

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Biber
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Association Patterns ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Empirical Approaches

The present paper argues that analyses of language use provide an important complementary perspective to traditional linguistic descriptions, and that empirical approaches are required for such investigations. Corpus-based techniques are particularly well suited to these research purposes, enabling investigation of research questions that were previously disregarded. Specifically, the paper discusses the use of corpus-based techniques to identify and analyze complex "association patterns": the systematic ways in which linguistic features are used in association with other linguistic and non-linguistic features. Several illustrative analyses are discussed, investigating the use of lexical features, grammatical features, and the overall patterns of variability among texts and registers.

Assessing Triangulation Across Methodologies, Methods, and Stakeholder Groups: The Joys, Woes, and Politics of Interpreting Convergent and Divergent Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Campbell ◽  
Rachael Goodman-Williams ◽  
Hannah Feeney ◽  
Giannina Fehler-Cabral
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Specific Data ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Data Points ◽  
Evaluation Project ◽  
Collection Methods

The purpose of this study was to develop triangulation coding methods for a large-scale action research and evaluation project and to examine how practitioners and policy makers interpreted both convergent and divergent data. We created a color-coded system that evaluated the extent of triangulation across methodologies (qualitative and quantitative), data collection methods (observations, interviews, and archival records), and stakeholder groups (five distinct disciplines/organizations). Triangulation was assessed for both specific data points (e.g., a piece of historical/contextual information or qualitative theme) and substantive findings that emanated from further analysis of those data points (e.g., a statistical model or a mechanistic qualitative assertion that links themes). We present five case study examples that explore the complexities of interpreting triangulation data and determining whether data are deemed credible and actionable if not convergent.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Gatrell ◽  
Esther Dermott
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Visual Methods ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Research Relationships ◽  
The Impact

This introductory chapter explains how different research questions and methods can contribute to better understanding of contemporary fathers, fatherhood, and fathering. Given the enhanced methodological diversity and increased sophistication of methods across the social sciences, embracing qualitative and quantitative approaches, traditional (such as interviewing) and contemporary approaches (such as netnography and visual methods), and general ‘handbooks’ offering basic introductions to social research have limited use for advanced researchers and students. The book aims to link detailed concerns about conducting individual projects to wider methodological debates concerning the value of different forms and sources of data, the negotiation of research relationships, and the impact of research findings on participants, policy makers, employers, and a wider public.

scholarly journals DIE EVALUERING VAN ’N LEESBEVORDERINGSPROJEK: DIE ZOË-VOORLEESPROJEK IN DIE NOORD-KAAP

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Maritha Snyman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Family Literacy ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Collection Methods ◽  
Selection Of

In view of the dire state of literacy levels in South Africa and the fact that few literacy programmes provide research reports to evaluate best practices and effectivity, this article reports on the evaluation of a literacy project. The project, inspired by two children, is referred to as the Zoë-reading aloud project and targeted children in and around Upington in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The project was set up according to acknowledged reading promotion principles and it was structured to collect detailed data. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used and a selection of methods provided reliability. The findings of the analysis of a collection of data for a period of 15 months revealed the best practices of the project. It highlights, for example, the need for financial assistance and challenges the concept of family literacy in low-literate and poor communities.

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