Grounding Evidence in Design: Framing Next Practices

Abstract

By focusing on episodes from a case study of healthcare design practice investigated in situ, the aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the nature and use of evidence in design. Our account portrays a practice where sources other than scientific research findings were also considered. Based on observations and interviews from the field, the paper first provides a brief account of sources and representations of evidence. The varieties of evidence within the observed practice fall into four major groups: precedents, scientific research, embodied knowledge, and anecdotes. We observed how the participants in the design process used each of these forms of evidence to formulate and explain their design ideas in terms of mechanistic models to form causal links. These mechanistic arguments, which follow a model of scientific thinking, were repositories of transdisciplinary knowledge involving design and other disciplines.