Dress-up doll experiments: codesign with children to drift into the world of play and exceed research questions

This paper argues for play experiments as a method for promoting
children’s participation in research and acknowledges their meaning-making and knowledge. The paper is based on two dress-up
doll codesign experiments with children. We draw on the perspectives of play order and play practices together with Schön’s concept
of ‘on-the-spot experiments’ and his ideas of naming and framing in
a process of selecting ‘things’ to attend to. From this position, we
discuss drifting in design research with children. To enhance children’s knowledge in design research, this paper suggests extending
an existing typology of design experiments to include a sixth typology, namely the ‘exceeding typology’, which can be described by
the keywords ‘transboundary’, ‘transcendent’, and ‘extending’. The
main contribution is showing how children’s play knowledge can
contribute to core meaning-making through codesign experiments
in ways that challenge and transcend adults’ expertise. By pointing
at play as an open space for meaning-making where children’s
expertise rules, we demonstrate the value of play experiments in
design research in general.