92530 VISUAL RESEARCH METHODS

Year	No.	Offer	Mode	Description			Cred. Pts
99	92530 	S1  	D 	VISUAL RESEARCH METHODS   	1.00

Contents

• Staffing
• Synopsis
• Objectives
• Topics
• Texts
• Recommended References
• Student Workload
• Assessment Details
• Other Requirements

STAFFING:

SYNOPSIS:

The  notion of research in the visual arts is a contemporary  cultural
issue  which deserves serious attention. Yet many artists  claim  that
research involves problem solving which is the essence of practice  in
the  visual  arts.  Therefore, they argue, visual  arts  is  research.
However,  the  visual  arts  are  being  challenged  to  justify   and
demonstrate  this  nexus.  This unit develops  and  explores  research
methodologies and processes which are relevant to visual  arts  theory
and  studio  practice.  It  is  designed  to  introduce  and  identify
appropriate processes for research in visual arts theory and  practice
which  are to do with discovery, and which can be used to elicit  data
to do with personal ideas, observations and interpretations. In visual
research  this  data  might  bear on practical  issues  or  underlying
theories, on matters of intention (like the imaginative concepts  that
lie behind the work), ways of assessing what is done, or the processes
of   actually  handling  materials  and  techniques.  Its  methods  of
collection may be quantitative and qualitative.

OBJECTIVES:

On successful completion of this unit students will:

1. Identify a variety of visual research methods currently used
   by researchers in the visual arts and relevant fields of
   interest.
   
2. Describe and discuss major principles and methods used in
   visual arts research.
   
3. Describe and discuss characteristics of research using
   qualitative and quantitative data.
   
4. Demonstrate an ability to conceptualise and plan a range of
   visual research tasks according to appropriate theoretical
   frameworks.
   

TOPICS:

 Description                                                    Weighting(%)

Introduction to visual arts research.

Dimensions of research.

Theory and contemporary issues in visual research.

Meanings of methodologies and applications for practice.

Establishing a research design.

Documentation.

Evaluation of research.

TEXT and MATERIALS to be PURCHASED:

RECOMMENDED REFERENCE MATERIALS:

Centre for Research in Art and Design, 1995, Developing a Research
Procedures Programme for Artists and Designers, Robert Gordon
University, Aberdeen.

Easthorpe, A and McGowan, K, 1992, A Critical and Cultural Theory
Reader, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Hamond, M, 1991, Understanding Phenomenology, Basil Blackwell,
Oxford.

Kellehear, A, 1993, The Unobtrusive Researcher: A Guide to Methods,
Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Lather, P, 1990, Getting Smart: Feminist Research and Pedagogy
with/in the Postmodern, Routledge, New York.

Marshall, C and Rossman, G B, Designing Qualitative Research, Sage,
London.

National Gallery of Art, 1995, Conservation Research, Washington
D.C.

Pollard, E B, 1986, Visual Arts Research: A Handbook, Greenwood, New
York.

Telley, C, 1994, A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and
Monuments, Berg, Oxford.

Van Manen, M, 1990, Researching Lived Experience, University of
Western Ontario, Ontario.

Whyte, W F, 1984, Learning from the Field: A Guide from Experience,
Sage, Beverley Hills.

STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

	ACTIVITY				HOURS
Lectures                                      	14
Tutorials/Workshops                           	14
Project Work                                  	56
Private Study                                 	80

ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

No  *F/S Marks     Due        Description                              Wtg(%)    LBL WWW
1   S              02/03/99  SHORT ESSAY                               10.00     N   N
2   S              09/03/99  RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL                 20.00     N   N
3   S              20/04/99  DRAFT LITERATURE REVIEW                   20.00     N   N
4   S              05/06/99  RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT                   40.00     N   N
5   S              WEEKLY    WEEKLY JOURNAL                            10.00     N   N

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

1    Students are required to attend at least 80% of classes.  Medical
     certificates are required if attendance is less than 80%.
2    Late  submissions  will  be subject  to  penalty  up  to  20%  of
     assignment  mark  for each working day late  (as  per  University
     regulations)   unless  medical  certificates  are   provided   or
     extenuating circumstances are appropriately demonstrated.
3    Grades will normally be awarded according to the cumulative total
     of marks for the various assessment items:
     50-64% = C;  65-79% = B;  80-89% = A;  90% and over = HD.
     An  IM  may  be  granted if there is a shortfall in  one  of  the
     assessment items.