Evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of design methods

Evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of design methods: A systematic review and assessment framework

Cash, Philip (University of Northumbria)
Daalhuizen, Jaap (Technical University of Denmark)
Hekkert, P.P.M. (TU Delft Design Aesthetics)

2023

The increasingly transdisciplinary context of design, where designers collaborate with other disciplinary and domain experts, means there is a growing need to evidence the effectiveness of design methods. We address this need in two ways. First, we propose a ‘chain of evidence’, from motivation to claims, operationalising this in a systematic assessment framework. Second, we systematically review current design method research. Our results reveal that while all links in the chain of evidence are reported across the literature and best practices can be identified, no individual paper either reports all links or consistently achieves best practice. Our framework and results demonstrate the need for standards of evidence in this area, with implications for design method research, development, education, and practice.

design methodology
design methods
design research
design tools
systematic review

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6ad1443b-844e-4caf-b2f1-2682ce25f991

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2023.101204

0142-694X

Design Studies, 88

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2023 Philip Cash, Jaap Daalhuizen, P.P.M. Hekkert