[en] Method development is one of the raisons d’etre of engineering design research and method uptake by industry is perceived as an important success criterion.
This paper argues that one of the problems with methods is the lack of clarity about what is actually proposed to industry and the academic community when a new method is put forward, in terms of how detailed, strict, precise and rigorous the method is and what it can deliver.
This paper puts the concept of method in the context of related concepts and proposes a multi-level model of the elements of a method to argue that a contribution on each of these levels can be of value and that the introduction of methods can fail on each of these levels.
Implications thereof for industry and academia are discussed, concluding that a clear description of methods and their intended use is important for enabling proper validation of each of the method’s elements and for communicating methods to academia and industry.
Disciplines :
Mechanical engineering
Author, co-author :
Gericke, Kilian ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC) > Engineering Research Unit
Eckert, Claudia
Stacey, Martin
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
What do we need to say about a design method?
Publication date :
August 2017
Event name :
Claudia Eckert
Event organizer :
the Design Society
Event place :
Vancouver, Canada
Event date :
from 20-08-2017 to 24-08-2017
Audience :
International
Main work title :
Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering Design
Alexander, C. (1971), "The state of art in design methodology", Design Method Group Newsletter, pp. 3-7. Berkeley.
Araujo, C. S., Benedetto, H., Campello, A. C., Segre, F. M., and Wright, I. C. (1996), "The Utilization of Product Development Methods: A Survey of UK Industry", Journal of Engineering Design, 7(3), 265-277.
Barth A., & Caillaud E., R. B. (2011), "How to validate research in engineering design?" In DS 68-2: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED'11), Vol. 2: Design Theory and Research Methodology, Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark: The Design Society, Glasgow.
Birkhofer, H., Kloberdanz, H., Berger, B., and Sauer, T. (2002), "Cleaning up Design Methods - Describing Methods Completely and Standardised", Proceedings of DESIGN 2002, the 7th International Design Conference, 30, 17-22.
Birkhofer, H., Kloberdanz, H., Sauer, T., and Berger, B. (2002), "Why methods don't work and how to get them to work", In Proceedings of Third International Workshop - Engineering Design and Integrated Product Development (pp. 29-36).
Blessing, L., and Chakrabarti, A. (2009), DRM, a Design Research Methodology, London: Springer.
Cross, N. (2008), "The design process", In Engineering design methods: Strategies for product design (4th Editio, p. 230). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Daalhuizen, J. (2014), Method Usage in Design. Technical University of Delft.
Eckert, C. M. and Clarkson, P. J. (2005), "The reality of design", In P. J. Clarkson & C. M. Eckert (Eds.), Design Process Improvement A review of current practice (pp. 1-29). London.
Eckert, C. M., Clarkson, P. J., and Stacey, M. K. (2003), "The spiral of applied research: A methodological view on integrated design research", In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 03). Stockholm.
Eder, W. E. (1966)," Definitions and Methodologies", In S. Gregory (Ed.), The Design Method (pp. 19-31). London, UK: Butterworths.
Eppinger, S. D., and Browning, T. R. (2012), Design Structure Matrix Methods and Applications Engineering Systems, Cambridge MA: MIT University Press.
French, M. J. (1999), Conceptual design for engineers (3. ed.), London: Springer. Retrieved from http://www.gbv.de/dms/bowker/toc/9781852330279.pdf
Frey, D. D. and Dym, C. L. (2006), "Validation of design methods: lessons from medicine", Research in Engineering Design, 17(1), 45-57. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-006-0016-4
Geis, C., Bierhals, R., Schuster, I., Badke-Schaub, P. and Birkhofer, H. (2008), "Methods in practice - A study on requirements for development and transfer of design methods", In Proceedings of DESIGN 2008 (pp. 369-376). Cavtat, Croatia: Design Society.
Gericke, K., Kramer, J. and Roschuni, C. (2016), "An exploratory study of the discovery and selection of design methods in practice", Journal of Mechanical Design, 138(October). http://doi.org/10.1115/1.4034088
Gregory, S. A. (Ed.). (1966), "Design and the design method", In The Design Method (pp. 3-11). London: Butterworth.
Heymann, M. (2005), Kunst und Wissenschaft in der Technik des 20. Jahrhunderts: zur Geschichte der Konstruktionswissenschaft. Zürich: Chronos Verlag.
Hubka, V. (1982), Principles of Engineering Design. London: Butterworth Scientific.
Jagtap, S., Warell, A., Hiort, V., Motte, D. and Larsson, A. (2014), "Design methods and factors influencing their uptake in product development companies : a review", In Proceedings of International Design Conference - Design 2014 (pp. 231-240). Dubrovnik, Croatia: Design Society.
López-Mesa, B. and Bylund, N. (2010), "A study of the use of concept selection methods from inside a company", Research in Engineering Design, 22(1), 7-27. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-010-0093-2
Pahl, G., Beitz, W., Feldhusen, J.and Grote, K.-H. (2007), Konstruktionslehre Grundlagen erfolgreicher Produktentwicklung, Methoden und Anwendung (7.). Berlin: Springer.
Pahl, G., Beitz, W., Feldhusen, J. and Grote, K. H. (2007), Engineering Design - A Systematic Approach (3rd ed.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Tomiyama, T., Gu, P., Jin, Y., Lutters, D., Kind, C. and Kimura, F. (2009), "Design methodologies: Industrial and educational applications", CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 58(2), 543-565. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2009.09.003
Vermaas, P. (2016), "A logical critique of the expert position in design research: beyond expert justification of design methods and towards empirical validation", Design Science, 2, e7. http://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2016.6
Wallace, K. (2011), "Tranferring Design Methods into Practice", In H. Birkhofer (Ed.), The Future of Design Methodology (pp. 239-248). London: Springer-Verlag London Limited.
