Design Research Methodology Research Proposal

07.4.23- 30.4.23 / Week 1- Week 4
Nitish A/L Naveen Kumar 0346592
Bachelor of Design HONOURS in Creative Media 
Design Research Methodology
Research Proposal 

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LECTURES 

WEEK 1

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 the stock 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.
  
  
• Students and faculty mentors work together to design and implement a research, scholarly, or creative project and then communicate the results to others.
  
  

Why should I  do research?

• Research expands understanding and knowledge of your academic field.
  
  
• It defines your academic, career, and personal interests.
  
  
• You establish valuable connections with faculty.
  
  
• You gain academic experience that help expand your resume, such as presenting at research conferences, publishing and working with a research team.
  
  
• You develop critical thinking, leadership, time management, and communication skills.
  
  
• You get to 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 writing 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 

WEEK 2

Problem statement, Research question, Research objective

Problem Statement

A problem statement is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to be improved upon. It identifies the gap between the current problem state and desired goal state of a process or product. A problem statement paves the way for the reader to understand the research problem. 

Research question

A research question is an answerable inquiry into a specific concern or issue. It is the initial step in a research project. The ‘initial step’ means after you have established the research problem in the form of a statement, the research question is the first active step in the research project. A research question is the ground of the foundation of your research. 

Writing a good research question means you have something you want to study. The steps at how you could write a research question.

• Specify your specific concern or issue 
  
  
• Decide what you want to know about the specific concern or issue 
  
  
• Turn what you want to know and the specific concern into a question 
  
  
• Ensure that the question is answerable 
  
  
• Check to make sure the question is not too broad or too narrow 

This is the basic process in writing a research question. Writing a good question will result in a better research project.

Research objective

Research objectives describe what we expect to achieve by a project. Research objectives may be linked with a hypothesis or used as a statement of purpose in a study that does not have a hypothesis. Even if the nature of the research has not been clear to the layperson from the hypotheses, s/he should be able to understand the research from the objectives. A statement of research objectives can serve to guide the activities of research. Consider the following examples:

• To describe what factors farmers take into account in making such decisions as whether to adopt a new technology or what crops to grow.
  
  
• To develop a budget for reducing pollution by a particular enterprise.
  
  
• To describe the habitat of the giant panda in China.

In example no. 1, the research will end the study by being able to specify factors which
emerged in household decisions.

In example no. 2, the result will be the specification of a pollution reduction budget. 

In example no. 3, creating a picture of the habitat of the giant panda in China.

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. It is a specific, testable prediction about what you expect to happen in a study. Unless you are creating a study that is exploratory in nature, your hypothesis should always explain what you expect to happen during the course of your experiment or research. A hypothesis does not have to be correct. While the hypothesis predicts what the researchers expect to see, the goal of the research is to determine whether this guess is right or wrong. When conducting an experiment, researchers might explore a number of factors to determine which ones might contribute to the ultimate outcome. In many cases, researchers may find that the results of an experiment do not support the original hypothesis. 

Variables 

A variable is something that can be changed or varied, such as a characteristic or value. Variables are generally used in psychology experiments to determine if changes to one thing result in changes to another. By systematically varying some variables and measuring the effects on other variables, researchers can determine if changes to one thing result in changes in something else. 

WEEK 3

Research

An organized and systematic study of a problem where the researcher attempts to address or find solution to the problem. In order to properly address the problem, specific questions and clearly defined objectives are important.

Research question

An answerable inquiry into a specific concern or issue. It is the initial step in a research project, derived from from the problem statement or research objectives. It influences the strategy that is employed in order to either provide answers to the questions or verify/falsify hypotheses.

Research objective

What a researcher expects to accomplish by the end of a research project. It is derived from a problem statement or research questions. Without objectives, a researcher is aimless and directionless in conducting the study. Is a clear, concise and declarative statement. Which is focused on ways to measure the variables, e.g. identify or describe, etc. A good objective is S.M.A.R.T.

• S - Specific
• M - Measurable
• A - Attainable
• R - Realistic
• T - Time bound

All of the above should also be relevant, feasible, unambiguous.

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INSTRUCTIONS 

 

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Fig 1.0 Draft 1 Research Proposal

 

Fig 1.1 Draft 2 Research Proposal

 

Fig 1.2 Draft 3 Research Proposal

 

Fig 1.3 Draft 4 Research Proposal

 

Fig 1.4 Draft Final Research Proposal

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig 1.5 Final Research Proposal PDF

Fig 1.6 Final Research Proposal REVISED PDF

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FEEDBACK

WEEK 2

Rephrase the sentence/statement of the research topic & problem to correspond with what i want to learn/share. Although diversity is not the same as before there is still a lack of diversity. What type of diversity am I trying to convey.

WEEK 3

Rephrase the research objectives and questions made. Am I trying to find how viewers or gamers interact?. The research objective and questions are not linked, they must both correlate.

WEEK 4

General Feedback: Make sure the research objective and questions relate to one another.

Specific Feedback: Have more research questions than objectives so it's easier to gather data later.

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