American Journal of Educational Research
ISSN (Print): 2327-6126 ISSN (Online): 2327-6150 Website: https://www.sciepub.com/journal/education Editor-in-chief: Ratko Pavlović
Open Access
Journal Browser
Go
American Journal of Educational Research. 2015, 3(4), 412-417
DOI: 10.12691/education-3-4-5
Open AccessArticle

A Case Study on Action Research: Barri Gòtic Barcelona

Xavi Camino1, and Albert Fuster1

1Department of Social Sciences, ELISAVA Escola Superior en Disseny – UPF, Barcelona, Spain

Pub. Date: March 19, 2015

Cite this paper:
Xavi Camino and Albert Fuster. A Case Study on Action Research: Barri Gòtic Barcelona. American Journal of Educational Research. 2015; 3(4):412-417. doi: 10.12691/education-3-4-5

Abstract

The Design Degree program at Elisava Escuela Superior de Diseño e Ingeniería de Barcelona includes tools and mechanisms to focus students on the users, the social context and communication. The idea behind this is that greater density should be sought in the projects and a fabric of relationships should be generated in a social and geographical environment ranging from the most local to the most global. As part of its “Products, context and user” subject, Elisava planned action research during the 2010-11 academic year between a group of graphic design students and the members of the 'Asociación de vecinos del barri Gòtic' (AVVBG or Gothic Quarter Community Association), the Gothic Quarter being the district of Barcelona where the School is situated. As the AVVBG has few members, it considered the need to develop new communicative strategies. The teachers provided the students with the traditional social science methods (documentary sources, participant observation, in-depth interviews) with two goals: the first, that they might become deeply aware of the district's social reality, its relationship with the rest of the city and the true needs of the AVVBG (diagnosis); and the second, to establish bonds with the members of the AVVBG that would lead to starting spaces for reflection, joint creation and joint participation in designing the association’s new communication strategies. The changes between the students' first proposal made with the typical conventional project methodology, and the following, after the action research and the users, students and tutors' reply, give a good account of the values and challenges of this methodology and enable design discipline self reflection.

Keywords:
Research-action critical social science Barcelona

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Figures

Figure of 6

References:

[1]  The critical theory was developed by philosophers from the Frankfurt School, such as T. Adorno, M. Horkeimer and H. Marcuse, in the mid-20th-century, concern for the growing power of influence of the positivist focus of science as an ideology on 20th century Society. Later this was extended and consolidated by the approaches of critical social science made by J. Habermas in several works, such as Conocimiento e interés (1982), Teoría y praxis (1997), Teoría de la acción comunicativa (1987). Generally, critical theory, as W. Carr and S. Kemmis (1988: 146) say, tends to “express a focus of theory that proposes the central mission of emancipating people from the domination of positivist thought through their own understandings and acts”.
 
[2]  W. Carr and S. Kemmis (1988) or J. Elliot (1990), amongst others, have taken critical social science to the field of education through the methodological focus they have called research-action. In general lines, this focus says that in order to produce emancipating or education-transforming knowledge, it is necessary not to separate research in the field of education from the educational praxis itself, and that it is essential to include the participation and collaboration of all agents involved in education (teachers, students, parents, institutions) in the research-action process. T. Eckes, The Developmental Social Psychology of Gender, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000. [E-book] Available: netLibrary e-book.
 
[3]  Carr, Wilfred; Kemmis, Stephen. Teoría crítica de la enseñanza. La investigación-acción en la formación del profesorado. Martínez Roca, Barcelona, 1988.
 
[4]  Cócola, Agustín. El barrio Gótico de Barcelona. Planificación del pasado e imagen de marca. Generic Publishers, Barcelona, 2011.
 
[5]  Casacuberta, David. Creación colectiva. Gedisa Publishers, Barcelona, 2003.
 
[6]  Elliot, John. La investigación-acción en educación. Morata Publishers, Madrid, 1990.
 
[7]  Findeli, Alain. “Introduction”, Design issues. 15 (2): 1-3, 1999.
 
[8]  Guersenzavig, Ariel. “El disseny com a eina de transformació participativa”. Quaderns d’acció social i ciutadania. 8: 52-55, 2010.
 
[9]  Habermas, Jurgen. Conocimiento e interés. Taurus Publishers, Madrid, 1982.
 
[10]  Habermas, Jurgen. Teoría de la acción comunicativa. Taurus Publishers, Madrid, 1987.
 
[11]  Habermas, Jurgen. Teoría y praxis. Estudios de filosofía social. Tecnos Publishers, Madrid, 1997.
 
[12]  Julier, Guy. La cultura del diseño. Gustavo Gili Publishers, Barcelona, 2010.
 
[13]  Lechot Hirt, Lysianne (dir.). Recherche-création en design. Metis Presses Publishers, Geneva, 2010.
 
[14]  Margolin, Victor. “Design studies and the education of designers”. Temes de disseny 6: 37-54, 1991.
 
[15]  Osterwalder, Alexander; Pigneur, Yves. Business Model Generations. John Wiley&Sons Publishers, Hoboken, 2010.