Design Research Methodology / Research Proposal
31.03.2022 - 24.04.2022 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Lulu Luisa Linardi / 0349358 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Research Methodology
Research Proposal
LECTURES
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Student research is self-directed work in which students from all areas of study work individually or as part of a team to explore issues of interest to them. Students and faculty mentors work together to design and implement research, scholarly, or creative project and then communicate the results to others.
The Research Problem
Problems for research are everywhere. Take a good look around you. We might see various kinds of vending machines placed everywhere. But have you thought of having a more user-friendly vending machine that is much more easier to use? Or, you might be frustrated waiting for public transportation that never shows up on time and you wish somebody can come out with a better system that prioritizes punctuality.
The Importance of Formulating a Research Problem
The formulation of a research problem is the first and most important step of the research process. This is more like identifying a destination prior to beginning a journey. A research problem is like the foundation of a building. The type and architecture of the building depend on the foundations. If the foundation is well designed and strong, you can expect the building to be strong as well. You must have a clear idea with regard to what it is that you want to find out but not what you think you must find.
A research problem can begin with something simple to something very complex, depending on the nature of the research theme. In ICT, with new emerging technologies, many research problems may be churned from issues in performance, reliability, and daily user applications.
Steps in Research Problem Formulation
– Step 1: Identification of Subject Area
– Step 2: Problem Definition and Identification
– Step 3: Literature Review
– Step 4: Selection of Research Design, Subjects, and Data Collection Technique(s)
– Step 5: Data Gathering
– Step 6: Data Processing and Analysis
– Step 7: Implications, Conclusions, and Recommendations
– Step 8: Publish and Communicate Results
Problem Statement
A problem statement is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to be improved upon. It identifies the gap between the current (problem) state and desired (goal) state of a process or product. A problem statement paves the way for the reader to understand the research problem.
Research Objective
In general, research objectives describe what we expect to achieve by a project. Research objectives may be linked with a hypothesis or used as a statement of purpose in a study that does not have a hypothesis. Even if the nature of the research has not been clear to the layperson from the hypotheses, she/he should be able to understand the research from the objectives. A statement of research objectives can serve to guide the activities of research. Consider the following examples.
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 1: Research Proposal
Before starting the research, students were told to finalize the choice of their specialization for Semester 3 onwards. After deciding on our choice, we have to compose a research proposal to kick start the research.
The proposal outlines your research topic and area, setting a stage for further development in the research process in this module.
Students are to select a topic, within the realms of multimedia, art and design, and visual culture, in which they are interested to study, by focusing on a specific area in that topic. It is important to consider research in areas of specialization in which students intend to pursue in the higher semester of this programme (UI/UX, Entertainment Design, Graphic Design, and Animation & Visual Effect). Subsequently, to integrate issues or themes encompassing either Design Culture or Design for Future Making or Social Design as an element that can be chosen to be integrated and drive the meaningful design research ultimately. The selection should be based not only on interest but also on adequate and substantial research from the reading of relevant academic sources.
For the feedback session in week 2, students need to show their first draft of their research proposal consisting of the Research Topic, Research Problem, and its rationale in 200-300 words. Here's my first draft of the research proposal.
After receiving the feedback from my lecturer, I started to rethink my decision in picking this research topic and problem. And I also have to produce Research Questions, Research Objectives, and the problem statement for Week 3's feedback. Here's my second draft.
1. Identify a Research Problem within a topic of research
2. Write a Research Rational
3. Write a Problem Statement with citations about the research problem
4. Identify relevant Research Objective(s) - ROs
5. Formulate a Research Question(s) – RQs about the Research Objective(s) – ROs
6. Place a Title of the Research on the first page of this submission
7. Added the References used at this initial research stage (reliable one please!) in the APA version 7 format referencing style as what you have learned in the Research 101, Library Information and Literacy Workshop last week
Below are my final draft and the slides for my submission.
However, mine was told to have a revision after the lecturer did a review on it. And this is the final submission of my research proposal after going through some revisions. I will also include the docs format below.
FEEDBACK
WEEK 1
Dr. Hayati and Dr. Jinchi told all students to choose the specialization as soon as possible so we can start to begin doing our tasks which is based on our chosen specialization.
WEEK 2
Dr. Hayati accepted my first draft but she advised me that I must have a legit/reliable source for the statement I made.
WEEK 3
Dr. Hayati told me to reconsider about the research question and research objective to have a certain value for my role as a future UI/UX designer. So it’s not just feeling it as a user, but also as a future developer (how it benefits me to decide on a better UI/UX if I get the information from users).
WEEK 4
Dr. Hayati told students to find articles based on the research methods we learnt in the library workshop session.
REFLECTIONS
WEEK 1
I got to learn the very basics of research methodology and there’s also a special session giving a short briefing about the BDCM’s specializations to help students decide on it. Even though I have decided on my specialization before this session, I think it was very helpful because I also got to know more about UI/UX Design, since this module (Design Research Methodology)’s tasks will be based on the specialization I chose.
WEEK 2
I realized that I still haven’t really understood the research and things. I wasn’t aware of the reference sources I used for the research. I didn’t have a clear and legit source for my statement, so with this feedback, I will try having more legit research on as mentioned sites like Google Scholar.
WEEK 3
With the given feedback, I found that I only put my focus on the user side, not as a developer. And I only keep focusing on the user preference area. I should think further about how the information I retrieved from users will be able to benefit me in my future role as a designer.
WEEK 4
After reflecting on my work in the past few weeks and the given feedback from Dr. Hayati, I realized that my topic isn’t strong enough or isn’t ‘that’ good to be used in this research methodology. And I decided to modify it a little bit to a more general topic, so I won’t face too many issues on doing this in the future continuous tasks and modules.