Communicating the Value of Design Research

The overarching theme for this Conversation was How can we communicate the value of Design Research? This was accompanied by the more specific question, How we can get Design Research into ‘Research Methods 101’? At the Conversa-tion, which was attended by approximately 30 participants, five groups were formed, and a ‘Question Bridge’ format was adopted to explore these themes—a structure which uses question and answers pairs to explore challenges and miti-gation strategies around the theme. The Question Bridge exercise demonstrated that there are clear divisions and contrasting perspectives in the Design Research community. The subsequent plenary discussion showed that while divisions are evident, any disruption caused by the lacking consensus can be straightforwardly mitigated by acknowledging contrasts and adopting deliberate communication strategies to clarify them