research methods

Assignment 2: Reading Response

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Response to reading from 

CH 5 Jan Chipchase, Hidden In Plain Sight: How To Create Extraordinary Products For Tomorrow’s Customers.  (2013)

The best way to get a gist of how people do the things and they do and how they do it is by being with the doers. The result would be much richer than just analysing existing collected data. In this chapter, the author discussed about “rapid cultural calibration” as a technique to put ourselves in the local mind set and to put local phenomena into global perspective. The rapid cultural calibration can be done by observing the city at dawn and rush hour time, participating in the city’s commute, going to travel hubs, barbershops and international fast food chain, and finally, reading urban signs. By doing cultural calibration, designers could have a deeper understanding about the consumers who would use their products.

Questions:

  1. How could we interpret data into insights? What are some practical things that we could do?
  2. In the case of going to foreign country with foreign language which language we do not understand, how could we communicate with the locals to get some insights to their lives? I get the feeling that by employing a translator will not give 100% essence to the researcher.

DR-Ntu: An overview of research methods in visual communication design education

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An overview of research methods in visual communication design education
Abstract
The article presents a review of studies done on research in visual communication design education. According to reviews, the design practice in visual communication design education has shifted from an emphasis on training in traditional vocational courses to a focus on research being integral to the course; this prompted this article to examine the use of research in postgraduate and undergraduate programs and evaluate the debate over research methods applicable to the field. This article includes a brief definition of visual communication design, an overview of commonly used methods for visual communication design education such as Action Research and Reflective Practice, as well as an outline of research emphasis in visual communication design at postgraduate level. In addition, this article provides a brief overview on the nature of problem in undergraduate studies, such as lack of appropriate models of research practice in visual communication design education, and also the need for early training in the research discipline for visual communication in undergraduate studies.
Author
Yeo, Jesvin Puay-Hwa
Date of Issue

2013-05-24