Theme 5: Design research

PART 1

1. How can media technologies be evaluated?

In this research they use ISO recommendations to evaluate usability; it is defined by the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of the prototype. The effectiveness was in this case measured by calculating the error rate when the user had to determine which area of the soccer field that was communicated via the vibration. The efficiency was measured by the cognitive time and the satisfaction was measured by a questionnaire.

2. What role will prototypes play in research?

A prototype is a necessity to use if you want to examine something where the desired tool is missing. In this example they developed a prototype that gave vibrational feedback for a soccer game, there were no similar product to be found. In some cases the desired product might exist, but they may be very pricy and therefore a prototype is required.

3. Why could it be necessary to develop a proof of concept prototype?

A proof of concept is a very good way to test the concept before you develop it further, investigate the feasibility. A proof of concept prototype can save a lot of time (because it is not required much time for developing a ready product) and it is also easy to detect advantages and disadvantages.

4. What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

A prototype is not a ready product and therefore may imply some faults or flaws. When the user interacts with a prototype these faults and flaws may affect their impression in a negative way. Also, there is a risk that the researcher gets emotionally attached to a prototype which may lead to biased interpretations of results.

5. How can design research be communicated/presented?

There is of great importance to illustrate the research with pictures (e.g. screenshots), charts and explanatory texts. It makes no sense to present design research only as text. There might be useful to present the entire iterative design process of a prototype by screenshots or pictures. If a physical prototype is to be presented, it is preferred to display a refined version (so it doesn’t look like a piece of scrap).

PART 2

1. How does a collaborative setting differ from a single user setting as regards methodology used and the results obtained?

If a single user setting is used and you want to know what the user thinks while performing the test, you have to force the user to think-aloud. But if you use a collaborative setting the think-aloud may be achieved automatically by the users when they communicate with each other. The collaborative setting may result in more honest opinions. But there are also a possible risk of the users affect each other to think similarly.

2. How can qualitative and quantitative methods in the same study complement each other?

The qualitative method can provide deeper understanding to the data acquired by a quantitative method. If you use only one of the methods, there is a risk of only getting raw data and numbers or only “soft values”.

3. How can using both subjective and objective methods give a better understanding of a phenomenon?

As I interpret this question it is very similar to the question above; a quantitative method generates an objective research while a qualitative method generates a subjective research. As I mentioned above, the both methods complements each other both often needed to fully understand a phenomena.