Get real: The need for effective design research

Visible Language, 2003 by Nemeth, Christopher

There is no single best way to do design research. Instead, it takes a range of research approaches to learn what one needs to know about reality. For example, some rely on focus groups. Others consider ethnographic studies to be the sum of design research. Heath and Luff (2000:246) are among many authors who disagree, countering that the relationship between ethnographic studies and design 'remains problematic' due to significant differences between the agendas, philosophies, thought processes and methods of naturalistic researchers and of designers.

Design research methods are not design methods. Design methods are procedures that are used to assist idea generation. For example, morphological analysis is a design method that is used to combine various options into solution possibilities. By contrast, design research is a deliberate process of inquiry in order to discover and interpret new knowledge. To conduct that inquiry the designer needs to use methods in order to collect, to interpret and to apply knowledge on human performance as well as to understand how artifacts effect performance. Design research, then, is the means to combine both design visualization and methodical inquiry throughout the concept development process.

Nemeth (2003) inventories five groups of methods that designers can use to ground their work in reality: analysis, design guidance, evaluation, self-reporting and simple experimentation.

* Analysis methods are used to collect information on the problem as it is given in order to create a new grasp of the problem as it is understood.

* Design Guidance methods are used to translate knowledge that was garnered during analysis in order to model existing conditions or prospective concepts.

* Through Evaluation methods, the designer can assess circumstances that already exist or solutions that are under development. Usability assessment is a popular means to evaluate new concept simulations.

* Questionnaires and interviews can be used to elicit qualitative responses of individuals or groups to current conditions or proposed concepts.

* Experimentation is the infrequent but sometimes necessary practice of creating and controlling circumstances to collect specific kinds of information in order to determine cause and effect.

Figure 1 shows how design research methods can be used to investigate and evaluate in parallel with design methods. The interaction between analysis and synthesis occurs from initial analysis, through prototype development, to final solution model, to finished product, then implementation and use. As the process unfolds, new knowledge and new methods are used to develop a notion into a concept and then into an artifact. Investigation provides the basis to develop a design direction at each stage as a concept evolves. It informs design problem definition and ideation. Evaluation provides the means to determine the fit between the concept and the real world at each stage of evolution. It informs design implementation and idea selection.