I recently came across a great article by James Arnold of The Ohio State University
Big Ideas: A History of Field Research in Industrial Design in the United States is one of several papers from 2005's International Conference on Design Research.
Arnold succinctly traces the emergence of research methods and outputs in the ID process over fifty years. Four "eras", roughly a decade each, are used to map out the growth and maturity of design research - from its beginnings out of human factors and marketing, to its modern visibility.
The article includes a detailed table of the key people, methods, products and methods from each of the four eras. Arnold also notes the rise of user research methods in IDEA award winning products - although its arguable whether such products won due to design research, or just represent a standardization in the modern design process (or both).
Really interesting stuff for those in the field to understand your roots.
