Design Research Methodology / Proposal

on

03.28.2022 - 04.27.2022 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Audrey Gracia Djohari / 0348120
Design Research Methodology
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor’s University
Project 1: Proposal

LECTURES

WEEK 1:

In the first class, Dr. Hayati and Miss Jinchi opened the session with an explanation of MIB and they briefed us about the assignments that are coming. After that, they began the lecture about research and its importance.

Also, in the third session, many lecturers from all of the creative media specialization did a presentation. I really feel that week 1’s specialization presentation that was conducted by the lecturers was very helpful. It helped me decide on my specialization. I have decided to choose UI/UX.

- Introduction To Research

Figure 1.0: Week 1 Notes
What Is Research?
  • The systematic and creative investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
  • Increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of knowledge to devise new applications.
  • Research is the pursuit of knowledge.
  • 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.

Why should I do research?
  • Expands understanding of your academic fields.
  • Define your academic, career, and personal interests.
  • Establish valuable connections with faculty.
  • Gain academic experiences.
  • Develop critical thinking, leadership, time management, communication skills.
  • Explore research techniques.

How should I start?
  • Identify your field of interest. You might become curious about more than one topic through your courses, current events, or by reflecting on things that appeal to you. Reading up writings in some current design magazines might help too.
  • After you have selected your field of interest/topic, delve into further research about it to establish an area (research problem) where you are interested to conduct research about.
  • Write a bit more extensively about the research problem in the form of a statement.
  • Formulate a research question that is derived from the research problem.
  • Identify research objective(s) that you would like to achieve from conducting this research,
Youtube Video: 


WEEK 2:

- Problem statement, Research questions, Research objectives


Personal Note

Literacy Lecture 4-6 Week 4
This research is important for design dissertation next semester

Websites for finding scholarly articles:
  • Google Scholar 
  • Research Gate

Figure 1.1: Week 2 Notes


WEEK 4:

- Library Information Literacy Workshop

Research 101 & Mendeley

Figure 1.2: Cite It Right, 21.04.2022

I attended the Library Information Literacy Workshop in Week 4 where we spent about two hours learning how to use Mendeley and Research 101. I came to the conclusion that I hadn't fully considered how crucial reference was for research work. I learned how to discover research-worthy publications and papers and how to properly cite in this workshop.

After the workshop, we must complete the 30 questions quiz.

INSTRUCTION


PROPOSAL

Instruction

Below information is what I would expect in your RESEARCH PROPOSAL - In Slide sequential format. (Please convert the PPT file into PDF before upload here in Google Classroom). Thus;

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.

I really feel that week 1’s specialization presentation that was conducted by the lecturers was very helpful. It helped me decide on my specialization. I have decided to choose UI/UX.

- Writing a Rationale, Week 2

Instruction for Week 2
  • Confirm your field of interest. Provide rationale (200-300 words), with research evidence.
  • Establishment of an area (research problem) where you are interested to conduct research about.


Week 2 Draft


I’ve written down my topic, rationale, as well as research problem of my topic, which is “The impacts of UI/UX design on older adult users in accessing mobile applications.”


I was inspired by a problem that was often faced by my grandparents. They had struggles with mobile applications. I am determined to study this matter and understand it from a UI/UX perspective.


Figure 2.0: Week 2 Draft, 07.04.2022

- Writing Research Questions & Objectives, Week 3

Week 3 Draft

I changed ‘mobile application’ to a more specific topic. I decided to focus on mHealth Apps only.

Figure 2.1: Week 3 Draft, 13.04.2022

- Writing a Problem Statement, Week 4 & 5

Week 4 Draft

Week 4 progress:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1xzSdi_8rHolRvm0qnQvz6kLWyWVhf4IK


Proposal Slide:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ETYj0xY7HUqELn9c_msohbJHCEZIG9Wr/view?usp=sharing

Figure 2.2: Week 4 Draft, 20.04.2022
Week 5 Draft

Figure 2.3: Week 5 Proposal Presentation (Not Final), 21.04.2022

To be honest, until week 5 I was still not sure about my proposal presentation, so I had an issue when I search for my critical review files. It became a snowballing effect because I couldn't finish the second project according to the timeline. However, I was so happy when Dr. Hayati gave me a second chance and provide the class extra time to make a revised proposal. Below is my revised version.

- Final Proposal


Figure 2.4: Final Proposal (Revised), 25.05.2022

Figure 2.5: Final Proposal Presentation (Revised), 25.05.2022


FEEDBACK


WEEK 1:

General Feedback

  • Dr. Hayati and Miss Jinchi kept reminding us to decide on our specialization

WEEK 2:
Personal Feedback
  • Dr. Hayati said the topic is fine but it’s still too broad. Be more specific about the term “mobile applications”. It can be for social media, news, shopping apps, etc. 
  • Find out which apps the elderly use the most. 
  • Always refer to scholarly articles, use Google Scholar to search for them. 

General Feedback

  • Refer to proper publications: design magazines, youtube videos, research papers, books, etc. 
  • Use Google Scholar to find articles. 
  • This is project-based research, so try to see it that way. See yourself as a content provider. Research on something that can be practically applied. 
  • Your data must be a legit finding, not based on your opinions.
 
WEEK 3:
  • mHealth is also a broad topic, you need to be more specific. It may be a mental health app, cardiovascular app, etc. Or you can narrow it down into 1 application 
  • You can focus on 1 app, but first, browse mHealth apps and find the differences in those applications. Compare and contrast.

WEEK 4:
  • Change the proposal presentation slide design. Better to use dark colors for the writings and light colors for the background.
  • Make sure the topic that you brought up has a real problem (I was researching on the ui/ux problems for older adults in MySejahtera App at that moment) 


REFLECTION


Experience
The first week was actually very important to me as I have to determine my specialization before i could make the proposal. We watched a presentation conducted by the lecturers from each specialization and took some time to rethink the advantages and disadvantages. After doing some research, I finally decided to choose UI/UX as my specialization, I felt certain about it as I really want to learn new things in the design industry, and I think UI/UX is a unique form of design and has a huge potential for the future. For project 1, I was actually quite confused in determining the topic as Dr. Hayati kept saying mine was not specific enough. I was often lost because I didn't know if my proposal was good to go or not. I had some trouble revising it every week and had to rethink a lot about to see if my idea could work. I decided on a topic that focused on UI/UX for elderly people. To be more specific, I chose the COVID-19 app because I know so many elderly used it all over the world. So my final topic was: "UI/UX Design for Elderly User in COVID-19 Healthcare Application". Overall, writing the proposal wasn't an easy experience at all because it required so much thinking and revision. The fact that I didn't really know what I had to do for the next projects and dissertation made it harder for me to decide the topic. But eventually, I actually liked my topic.

Observation
In Week 4, I joined the library workshop that was provided in Times, we spent about 2 hours learning how to do research 101 and Mendeley. I realized that I wasn't really aware of how important referencing was in research projects. This workshop really taught me how to reference correctly and how to find research-worthy journals and papers. Other than that, when I did some research on my topic which is UI/UX for the elderly, I observed how the world still didn't give enough attention to the elderly when it comes to application usability. It's the 21st century but somehow people often forget to think about the senior citizens' needs. I think it's an ugly truth in this society and the reason behind so many elderly struggling with technology. 

Findings
I found that when writing the proposal, it's actually very important to know what we have to do for the upcoming projects as well. Because when I wrote my proposal, I had no idea where this project will lead to so I couldn't really imagine what the right topic was. I was supposed to read through the module information booklet from the start so I could have a better understanding of the bigger picture of what we're doing. If only I had done this, I could have written the proposal way easier. Another thing that I found throughout this project was to always keep our focus. We need to always think as a designer or content creators, and not as mass communication students.





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