An empirical perspective upon design research

If compared with other branches of engineering, design research sets itself apart from a number of aspects. Among these, one can mention its relative youth, the variety of approaches in use, the involvement of researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds and the fact that there is no specific field of the natural sciences of which it can be viewed as a natural offspring, and from which research methods and tools have been inherited. It is therefore difficult to define the contents, the research approach or the community behind research in engineering design. Gaining insight upon such matters is useful for good research governance in general, as well as for related activities, such as organizing events, refereeing papers, or supervising the work performed by graduate students. The present paper aims to provide a first step in this direction by proposing a quantitative analysis of the papers contributed to the 1997 and 1999 editions of the International Conference on Engineering Design. Papers are categorized in four main typologies; namely, empirical research, experimental research, development of new tools, and implementation studies. Descriptive statistics carried out both upon the collective set of papers and upon each typology highlight the current status of research, together with the interconnections between its diverse branches.