Inside the Designer: Understanding imagining in spatial design Inside the Designer | Page 11

Inside the Designer
An integral aspect of theoretical sampling for this study was the
inclusion of extant theory from presence research. In this respect, it
played a major role in extending an understanding of how one
engages with complexity through immersion and how this can be
mediated through technology or otherwise as will be described more
fully in Chapters 3 and 7. Of particular note is how ‘less artificial’
mediation and a lack of detail and stimuli appear to support richer
aesthetic engagement. Empirical data collected from the designers
also played a significant role and were central in the development of
the taxonomy of categories of imagining, a major outcome of the
study.
Having now made these introductory statements, I now provide an
outline of the remaining chapters.
An Outline of the Book’s Chapters
The book has seven chapters. The first, Chapter 1, as presented here,
describes the impetus for the study. This is followed by an outline of
the research questions, underpinning philosophical position and
research approach. In addition, it gives a brief overview of the major
outcomes and their significance when explored as implications for
spatial design education and their potential to contribute to the
discipline’s body of knowledge. Chapter 2 presents an overview of
design methodology research as a context for a closer examination of
research focussing on design thinking, cognition and concepts that
connect with the phenomenon of imagining. Chapter 3 then provides
an overview of presence research including its history and areas of
investigation that are of particular relevance to imagining such as the
role of cognition in presence research. In Chapter 4 a description of
the methodology, research process and research plan are provided
together with justification of the decision to use Grounded Theory as
the main methodological framework. Issues of research quality and
rigour are also addressed. Chapter 5 is concerned with the outcome
of the analysis of empirical data obtained from the designer
participants of the study. The first section describes how designers
regard imagining in the design process. The second section presents
the outcome of a closer examination of imagining and the emergence
of empirically grounded categories of imagining. Chapter 6 focuses
on the main outcome of the study – the Spatial Design Imagining
(SDI) Model. It outlines the development of the model according to
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