Monday, 3 December 2012

Research Methods and Source Material

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Research Methods – Process of doing:

1.    Visiting exhibitions to inform trends, competition and influences.
2.    Setting up focus groups to gain feedback on products and concepts.
3.    Questionnaires to gather facts, figures and opinions – questioning.
4.    Interviewing specialists and professionals.
5.    Experimenting with different media or production methods.
6.    Reading design publications.
7.    Observation of life.
8.    Photographing life, people and environment.
9.    Watching a film/TV.
10. Collecting current or historical examples.
11. Market research into context.

Source Material – Generated by research methods:

-                Quotes
-                Opinions
-                Statements
-                Facts
-                Statistics
-                Feedback
-                Analysis
-                Photographs/Images/Visual material
-                Useful information
-                Data
-                Knowledge
-                Documents

 
Problems that prohibit research (excuses):

§  Time (limited)
§  Reliability of information
§  Access to environment/subject
§  Lack of existing knowledge
§  Cooperation with external participants
§  Availability of subject matter
§  Geographical location restraints
§  Legal restrictions
§  Too much time
§  Costs
§  Dead people or past events
§  Outside limitations

Research itself is fundamentally flawed.
Research should be driven by what you want to get out of it.
Research is fundamentally driven by confidence.
 
How would we as a group improve our research for our brief – How to get people to read more:

§  Broader questionnaire – more specific
§  Collect statistics
§  Look how we could get permission from the council – email
§  Look at more relevant and appropriate existing products
§  Gain more knowledge on children’s illustrations
§  Look at illustrations by children
§  Visit Waterstone’s (kids corner) and the children’s area at the city library
§  Spatial/environmental awareness – safety
§  Information on popular children’s books
§  Watch interviews with professionals/specialists/authors
§  Ask target audience questions
§  Experiment with different medias

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