The Incidence of Theoretical Content in Universal Design Research

The article investigates the incidence of theoretical content in Universal Design. Jones & Gregor’s (2007) structure of design theory is applied to selected Universal Design works with theoretical content. The Jones & Gregor (2007) model of design theory is outlined and explained. Having checked a selection of 37 articles and papers, it was found that theoretical content can be fragmentary and not clearly identified. Universal Design work from the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field conforms more clearly to Jones & Gregor´s (2007) structure. This might reflect an unaddressed difference in research philosophies in universal design for products such as assistive technology and accessible product design compared to universal design for HCI. It is concluded that design researchers working on disability and universal access need to explicitly identify the structure of their theoretical content. This will aid translation from theory to design practice and to improve theory-building and refinement which is one aim of design research.