Design Management [ Design Management : Strategies & innovation ]

Doing research is a cyclical process. When doing research, one should start by brainstorming keywords. Keywords will help you identify books and articles that are relevant to your research.  As you read articles and books, you should keep note of words that are frequently used by other researchers. Pratt Institute Libraries has a growing collection of Design Management research materials (books, e-books, articles, journals).

To best evaluate information, please follow the CRAP [ Currency, Reliability, Authority, & Purpose ] test below.   

The CRAP Test

Currency 

• How recent is the information?
• Can you locate a date when the resource was written/created/updated?
• Based on your topic, is the information current enough?
• Why might the date matter for your topic?

Reliability 

• What kind of information is included in the resource?
• Is the content of the resource primarily opinion? 
• Is the resource balanced or biased?
• Is there a Bibliography? In other words, does the creator provide references or sources for data or quotations? 

Authority 

• Can you determine the creator or author?
• What are their credentials (education, affiliation, expertise?) Is the author reputable?
• Who is the publisher or sponsor of the resource? Are they reputable?
• What is the publisher’s interest (if any) in this information?
• Are there advertisements on the website?

Purpose/Point of View 

• What's the intent of the article? (to persuade you, to sell you something?)
• For web resources, what is the domain? (.com .edu, .gov?) How might this influence the article's purpose or point of view?
• For web resources, are there ads on the webpage? How do they relate to the topic of the web resource? (for example, is there an ad for ammunition next to an article on firearm legislation or opposing gun control?)
• Is the author presenting fact or opinion?

Adapted from Dominican University

Research Help:

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