DESIGN RESEARCH GUIDE

Research is a very broad term that can be described as a human activity aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising human knowledge of the world. In most cases this refers to scientific research methods that are based on gathering measurable evidence and then subjecting that to specific principles of reasoning. There are however other types of research such as social research and project research the may be more useful in a design project. Project research can be described simply as the activity of finding out the things you need to know in order to successfully complete your task at hand, such as a design task. This site deals with those issues in a design context. One main difference between varies types of research is thatit either focuses on finding out what things are like or why things are they way they are. Useful design research tends to need both.

The term design research can be interpreted in a number of ways just as the term design has many different meanings to different people. Essentially design research can be described as the activity of finding the questions and the answers to those questions that you need to produce the best design solution possible in a design project under the given circumstances. Other interpretations include research about design as a subject or the process of using design methodology in research into other fields. This site deals with research useful in a design project.

Primary research gives the type of data that you yourself produce trough your research activities. Common methods are questionnaires and interviews. This site/book will deal mostly with these activities

Secondary research data is the type of information that has already been collected or summarized by someone else such as searching a database or going to a library. This type of research is by all means the most common one especially in market research. It has the advantage of being relatively cheap and fast. This is a good start for any research project.

One can divide any type of research into these two categories. Technically speaking there is no difference between qualitative and quantitative data other the way it is analyzed afterwards. A more generalizing way of looking at it is that in one case you ask many people and in the other you ask fewer people.

Quantitative research is mostly based on a large sample that is analyzed statistically and is the preferred method in natural sciences and demographic research. Common methods are questionnaires with thousands of respondents and the conclusions are expressed via a percentage of the total number of answers. This type of research is mostly used to establish how things are, based on measurable and quantifiable facts.

Qualitative research is centered on the understanding of and reasons behind the observed phenomenon and is more common in the human sciences. Common methods are interviews and focus groups where the conclusions are expressed trough descriptions and insights. This type of research is mostly used for finding out why thing are the way they are based on human insight.

A common issue when starting a research project is how many people to ask? Not all research deals with people, but it's very likely. A widespread misconception is that the more people you ask, the better the results. This is not a universal truth and depends on the purpose of your research. In a qualitative study about peoples opinion on a certain subject one can get very good results from asking as few as 20-30 people. It is on the other hand not very scientific to start analyzing the results statistically with fewer than 100 people involved.

Since it is not very practical to investigate everyone in a population of interest to your subject, one needs to make a choice in who to contact and how many to talk to. These choices may influence the results of your research.

Here are a few usefull ways to pick your people/subjects:

Random Sampling: As the name implies the subjects are picked at random and one needs to consider that the total amount of people are sufficient. This approach is suitable in the early stages of a project when little in known and is good for finding unexpected answers.

Systematic sampling: this is a variation of random sampling but based on a system such as every hundredth person from the phone book or something similar.

Stratified sampling: To ensure a representative selection the population is sometimes divided into different categories (or stratas) such as age or sex. People are then selected based on how large that category is in relation to the entire population.

Cluster Sampling: In order to save time and money it is sometimes useful to choose a specific category of people based on your own idea of what would be the most relevant to your project. This could be a naturally occurring cluster of people such a school or sports team.

Purposive sampling: When you have an idea about who would be relevant to your research you can simply hand pick the people that you feel would contribute the most.

Snowball sampling: It is sometimes difficult to get in contact with a specific group of people. One way of building up a sample is by starting with one person and then ask for references on who to go to next. This may help you build trust with your interviewees.