search & research

setting & maintaining a course of action for organizations, institutions & agencies

Steering a ship from its fantail gazing at its wake isn’t effective for setting and staying on course. To set and maintain a course you must move to the wheelhouse, or bridge, where the ship’s direction and speed are set proactively rather than reactively — where navigational judgments are made and acted upon.

It’s like driving a car by looking into the review mirror. “Anyone in their younger days who tried that please raise your hand… thank you.” “Now anyone successful at that please raise your hand…thought so.”

Driving by looking in the rearview mirror may not be the appropriate strategy for highway driving but checking occasionally in the rearview mirror as you move ahead is a good thing. Checking to see what was nearly or happily avoided and seeing what is coming up from behind (“Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”) is important information to have when you are the steersman. But it is not a guide to get you where you want to go in the direction you want to go. Looking behind or back is called ‘research’. Looking ahead is called ‘search’. Search is an essential component in design inquiry.

Research dominates discussions concerning inquiry when it involves intentional change. It is what gets funded through grants and other incentives. The research responds to questions concerning what reactions you should have based on past situations. Search strategy, in comparison, asks which direction would be desirable to go in given the consequences of past actions and desired future actions.

Research is the act of looking back. It provides essential information concerning the effects of past actions but does not prescribe future actions. Looking back provides data and evidence of the consequences of an activity. Looking back provides the facts for case studies and problem definitions. It reveals unintended consequences.