Issues of carrying out empirical research in industry

摘要

Increasingly engineering design research involves the use of empirical studies that are conducted within an industrial environment (Ahmed, 2001; Court 1997; Hales 1987). Research into the use of information by designers or understanding how designers design are examples of research areas that often use methods such as interviews, observations, protocol analyses, etc. These methods are traditionally associated with the social sciences and usually with experiments set within a laboratory environment. The use of such methods in an industrial environment has created a new set of research issues. This paper reviews empirical studies carried out within industry and the research issues associated with them. The paper draws conclusions from studies reviewed about the issues associated with the use of empirical research methods in industry.