Developing an Indigenous Design Research Methodology for Nigerian Industrial Design Scholarship

The methodological frameworks guiding industrial design research in Nigerian academic contexts are predominantly derived from Western research traditions that may inadequately accommodate the epistemological assumptions, relational ethics, and knowledge validation practices of Nigerian cultural systems. This doctoral research develops an Indigenous Design Research Methodology for the Nigerian context through a reflexive, theoretically grounded, and empirically validated process. The study draws on indigenous knowledge systems theory, African philosophy of science, and participatory action research to construct a methodology that centres communal knowledge production, oral tradition as data, elder-scholar collaboration, and craft practice as theory-generating activity. The methodology development process itself follows the principles it articulates, involving an eighteen-month participatory research programme conducted with traditional craft communities in Benue, Anambra, and Sokoto states, producing a body of design knowledge grounded in indigenous epistemology. A critical dialogue between the emerging methodology and established Western design research frameworks, including practice-based research, action research, and phenomenological approaches, is conducted through comparative analysis and international peer review. The resulting methodology is elaborated across five phases: relational entry, communal knowing, iterative making, elder validation, and collective narration, each specified with operationalisation protocols and ethical guidelines. Contributions include a publishable methodological text, a training curriculum for doctoral supervisors, and a theorised framework advancing design research decolonisation in African academic institutions. Keywords: indigenous methodology, design research, African epistemology, Nigerian scholarship, decolonisation.