Method & Methodology
Autonomous vehicles, the built environment and associated semiotics
1.1 Method
The PhD research method includes structured reviews of literature on the subject, analysis of the findings, synthesis of the research through thinking, writing and drawing, conceptualisation of ideas and assessment of the ideas through feedback and reviews.
Concurrently the method also includes training in a variety of subject areas related to the production of knowledge, listening, conversing, discussing and recording information with the RCA and other research communities.
Methods overlap and are planned to be iterative and focussed on qualitative outcomes, scientific observation and synthesis. The method assists in developing and structuring and refining the theoretical framework, the hypothesis, research questions and strategies forming the written part of the research. In broad terms, written research precedes the drawing and ‘creating’ phase of the project, the process is also flexible and adaptive to circumstances and could be conceptualised as cyclical, flowing and organic.
Essential to the production of knowledge, for me, is creating, recording processes and writing.In later stages creating and testing through objects will inform the written findings. Creating objects and environments is for me an inherent part of being an architect.
Dr Simon Watts, PGR Training Coordinator, Faculty of Social Sciences University of East Anglia provided me with online Doctoral Training in 2019/2020 as part of the RCA Research Office contribution to online training. In his training, he covered a comparative analysis of qualitative methods. Dr Watts provided valuable advice on the symposium methodology for which I am grateful. This project falls into a categorisation of Qualitative Thematic Analysis. The analytic steps of thematic analysis include:
Data familiarisation
Code descriptions
Developing themes
Reviewing themes
Defining themes
Production
The Literature Review places this research in the context of existing scholarly literature, it also interprets the major contemporary issues in the subject area and is arranged thematically. The method is convergent in that it is progressive, constantly reviewed with feedback from supervisors, and through examination.
1.2 Methodologies
Methodology is the justification for using a particular research method. The research is culturally based and has its focus on observation and interpretation of data rather than on measurement of data, therefore it is qualitative research.
Synthesising the research on AV, the environment and semiotics and utilising my infrastructure experience, drawing, modelling, testing of ideas for the development of a systemic approach is part of the project methodology. This includes utilising case studies of existing AV environments, social and cultural research, road-based infrastructure and synthetic research combining recent intelligent systems and the city as a platform to develop design parameters and theoretical frameworks that will be used to test scenario planning for the project.
Critical for the development of the project are my observations of vehicle and human interaction in the public realm. Design research methods, that applypractice-based and PhD by Project work as research tool are key processesin vehicle and mobility research. This is also an area of recent research, perhaps in its infancy in the field[1] and one which the RCA IMDC is exploring.
Mixed methodologies are utilised in the project to suit the specific areas of inquiry. Methodologies for general product design research focus on those outlined in Research Methods for Product Designers (UK, London; Laurence King Publishing Pty Ltd. This is key literature for the development of prototypes, models and drawings. Artur GrisantiMausbach. 2010. Paradigm Shift: The aesthetics of the automobile in the age of sustainability (London, RCA: Doctor of Philosophy unpublished thesis Royal College of Art) provides a methodological approach for product testing and assessment within the research community of the RCA. Both Milton (2013) and Mausbach (2011) are suitable literature sources for the development of design aspects of the project demonstrating how current research methods support product design in the PhD by Project.
Symposium Methodology
Considerable technical information on AV / CAV is available, however there is a lack of integrated urban design, urban planning and environmental sciences research on the subject. A literature review[1] and scenario planning[2] are continually updated and refreshed to facilitate thedeveloping international discussion. The relative novelty of the field and the lack of literature on in inter disciplinary research, resulted in the development of a symposium methodology, specific to Colin Polwarth’s PhD research, that facilitates interactivity between researchers, thought leaders in the industry, academia and a diversity of stakeholders[3] to contribute data in the field as an extension of my urban design practice.Transfiguration or chaosis anonline-symposium[4] methodology on connected autonomous vehicles (CAV), rights to the city and the environment.
The PhD hypothesis and research questions form the framework for the symposium; they are directly related. The data collected from the symposium will be used in the PhD to extend the research contribution. The principles of a semi-structured interview, active learning, and role play methodologies are utilised in the online-symposium methodology.
Originally focussed on a physical symposium, the online-methodology became a necessity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The primary online response is a website portal designed to assist with academic development into the future. The website is an open-source repository in which other researchers and interest groups can participate into the future. It is a living document available to all.
Considerations of research bias[5] including processes to respond to bias will be continuously monitored and managed due to the nature of the interpersonal and diversity aspects of the participants. The online-symposium methodology is transferrable and may be extended to other fields. The online-symposium methodology includes a stage of provocative critical inquiry by RCA researchers who will question the panellists and examine their answers with the aim of illuminating issues that are unclear. The symposium looks to the diversity of specialists across industry and academia to participate in the symposium focussed on responding to the scenarios presented
RCA IMDC identified[6] research format namely context immersion in the subject field, design experimentation and dialogue, followed by a process of analysis and synthetic consolidation. The online- symposium methodology appears to follow this process of development and is represented in the flow chart below. A central feature of the research is ethics, please refer to the ethics page which is an inherent part of the research methods and methodology.
1.3 Features
The principle features of the online symposium methodology are:
An interdisciplinary approach that current research lacks. The intention being that the online-symposium provides a research structure for interdisciplinary dialogue where there are current gaps in the knowledge base; the provision of data.
Aspects of AV such as connected autonomous vehicles (CAV) and Autonomous Renewable Energy Vehicles (AREV) are new research fields and the focus of the research.
There are no obvious solutions to AV, ‘the right to the city’ and environmental issues, this opens the field to research opportunities. The online-symposium methodology is structured to generate scenarios, suggests design ideas, asks design questions, presents designs, visualizes, assess, synthesize.
The online-symposium methodology creates opportunities for further research that has direct benefit for communities, policy makers, urban designers, artists and the environmentalists.