Theme 5 Pre

Theme 5: Design research

 

For the lecture on Monday, read the following paper written by Haibo Li with colleagues.

1.       How can media technologies be evaluated?

In this paper, they use ISO recommendation to evaluate the proposed system. According to the ISO, usability of the system can be measured by evaluating effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction for the user to achieve specific goals in particular condition. In this experiment, they gather several data, for example: measure the error rate when inputting correct pattern, measure the delay time and measure of user satisfaction. Then they analyze the data and conclude the experiment result and suggest recommendation’s for future works.

 

2.       What role will prototypes play in research?

Prototype is a representation of the design in physical (real object) or logical form (software, etc.) that made before the final solution exist. This prototype usually used to give the researcher a proof of concept model for their proposed system. Furthermore, with this prototype, they can do some test and simulation before building the real system. In this paper this prototype used to get some data from the experiment run in this prototype.

 

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

I think, it is an important step to build a prototype as a proof of concept. Because with this prototype, at least we can gather the initial data regarding the assumption we make while building this system. With this prototyping step, we can get additional information regarding performance of the proposed system, and depends on the result we can change, alter, continue or disband the system. In the long term, it can reduce time and cost when building the real systems.

 

4.       What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

Prototypes usually only test the functionality of the design. For example, in the paper they use self-designed PCB and a mockup of mobile phone with attached vibration motor. If we look for the function that this prototype deliver then it can be a good system. But if see from an aesthetic view, then it look horrible. It happens because in the prototype we only have a limited resources and sometimes it only test a specific function comparing to the whole system. So it is some possibility that prototype only works in small scale, and it need readjust when combined to other system.

 

5.       How can design research be communicated/presented?

When presenting the prototype to the participant, first we need to explain what this prototype will do and what parameter it can generate. Secondly, we can introduce them how to operate the prototype and give the instruction of the activity if available (depend on how scenario of the test). Then, after the experiment we can gather the data and conduct some analyzing process based on the methodology we used to get the result.

 

For the lecture Wednesday, read the following papers written by Eva-Lotta Sallnäs Pysander and her colleague.

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

         In collaborative setting the test subject is more than one person. Therefore, when doing some experiment, each of test subjects can have a different perception although they do this activity together, and it needs more effort to analyze the data. On the other hand, a single user setting is much easier, because we can collect the data directly based on one person directly. So, we need to specify the test methodology setting to complement our research.

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

          We use quantitative method to measure the data obtained from the quiz and the questionnaire, and then calculated descriptive statistics of each item and each construct as a whole, including the average score, standard deviation, and maximum and minimum values. We use qualitative method to examine the video-recorded and picture during the AR class and recorded interview. Because both methods focus on different focus on objects, so I think it is possible to use both methods to analyze the problem. For example, if we get the data that can be measured in number then we can quantitative method, and if we get the data about opinion then we can use qualitative method.

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

            With qualitative and quantitative method, we can get positive value in both views of human behavior. Mixed researcher intends to use both methods to understand the world more fully, because with this method they can focus on causal factor and examining human choice and behavior. The limitation is the researcher must know the important to understand both the subjective (individual), inter-subjective (language-based, discursive, cultural), and objective (material and causal) realities in our world.