Theme 5: Post reflection

I realized the first article I picked out at the beginning of this course was actually somewhat classified as design research. This might explain why I found it a bit harder to dissect into the patterns of analysis that we were supposed to use. At the first lecture Ylva Ferneaus explained and talked about what might be missing in design research papers, such as Comics, Robots, Fashion and Programming: outlining the concept of actDresses, a research paper written by herself and colleagues. A few of the typical things that might be missing turned out to be, quite naturally, the things I had a hard time finding in the first article of my choice.

In the way design research is laid out, it seems more subject to qualitative research than quantitative research. Logically, since one “testing out” a design might be very similar to “testing out an idea” where you’re not sure of the outcome, or particularly interested in a restricted portion of all the results, this type of research matches the description of qualitative research more to the point than quantitative research. The analysis of ones findings is crucial (as in any research case) in design research, as the tested product is often one completely new to the market.

During Haibo Li’s lecture a thought that had struck me earlier was confirmed. It seems, after analysing several articles in different journals, the younger the research (release date) the more likely the article is to be inconclusive, lacking parts or theories or just not give an approximation of the results and findings. This is becoming increasingly common as the focus of researchers often lies in the quantity of research, the fear of being wrong or mistaken, the stress and pressure of having to scream loud to be heard and thus able to support one’s research through external financing.

It was refreshing to hear someone stripping all unnecessary BS and slap the “sure you can” on the table, because at the end of the day the idea behind the work in itself is the essential- not the implementation (which is only important).