Design Research Methodology - Final Compilation

31/3/22- 10/7/22 (Week1-Week15)
Design Research Methodology / Final Compilation

Loh Shu Huan / 0349621
Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

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INSTRUCTIONS

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SUBMISSIONS

Fig.1 Assignment 1: Proposal - PDF, week 4 (24/4/22)

Fig.2 Assignment 2: Critical Review - PDF, week 7 (15/5/22)

Fig.3 Assignment 3: Research Implementation - PDF, week 12 (19/6/22)

Fig.4 Assignment 4:Research Reflection Report and Recorded Presentation - PDF, week 12 (8/7/22)

Recorded Presentation Video

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FEEDBACK

Week 2 - Proposal

For my research topic, it may focus on colour instead of colour psychology. The psychology could  be one of the impacts. Advertising and branding are two different areas that both are large. When studying certain advertisements, it will link to the brand’s nature. But the focus is actually on how colours are used in that particular advertisement.

For the rationale, I need to have another support which more directly about the importance of colour in the advertisement (because the stated one is generic about business). Have to decide which kind of advertisement to talk about and also the platform of the advertisement. Need to read more before choosing the advertisement because it is really important to the studies

(need to choose carefully). Ms. Jinchi also suggested on my research problem could focus on colour and imagery (recommended property or beauty advertisement).

Week 3 - Proposal

The way to cite the researchers needs to be corrected, if no date is stated just put lowercase (n.d.). The Problem Statement and ROs & RQs need to be consistence and have to refer back to the research problem. Need to be careful while making a conclusion about what other researchers said.

For the problem statement, it's important to include a short description or discussion about how visual elements play a role in creating successful visual branding.

The ROs & RQs, need to be consistence with the research problem. Ms.Jinchi. also helps me to clarify the research topic and also remind us to search for a more relevant and up-to-date research paper to be prepared for assignment 2.

Week 5 - Critical Review

The overall is good for the first attempt. Ms. Jinchi reminded us that thesis is allowed but not preferred due to the time-consuming, because it is much longer than a research paper. Ms.Jinchi commented that the topic of the papers that I’ve found looks ok and I seem like in the correct direction. For the critical review, when we describe how the information stated in the paper, we need to comment on it, whether it’s a strength or a weakness of the paper.

While we try not to write too much, it’s important for us to include at least general information about what we have read and include what we have observed as the weakness of the paper. Because in the end, we will need to evaluate it overall.

My second critical review is a wrong source, it’s a guide instead of a research paper. But not all is lost, I can still find something to learn. (Always learn from our mistakes.) I can still keep it as a reference for the structure of my dissertation afterward.

Week 7 - Critical Review

It is a bit too short and brief for one critique. The point can be more details. Besides, the writing needs to have a flow to show continuity. If not, it may confuse the reader. Show a short example before a comment/critique to illustrate what I’m talking about. If the articles have more similarities we can choose to combine them and talk about both articles together. But if they only have a common topic with less similarity, they can still be separated. It’s good to have a short conclusion to sum up each critical review.

Week 9 - Research Implementation

Through the qualitative method, I may not find out “why”. Hence, even though I’m using a questionnaire, I can still include qualitative elements in the survey. Such as the open-ended question with a short answer, to learn the opinion of the participants. Sometimes I can have a mixture of quantifiable and open-ended questions (provide a selection of answers but why). Every provided selection of answers needs to have a justification.

Justify the choice of the brands, and then from the brands. Have some literature to explain the background of the brands to support the justification. Once we selected the brands we will roughly know about the age range of the target participants. The chosen age range of target participants has to be justified by research.

The way of asking the question of both of the chosen brands needs to be consistent. Sometimes, when we design a survey for a more common group of people using images could be a more effective way to otherwise describe more complex terms. At the beginning of the survey form, it is important that we introduce ourselves and even have a description/definition of the topic to prep the participants.

Week 10 - Research Implementation

- Remember to have a short description of what is visual elements/ visual branding in the introduction. 

- Reminder to put the number along with the questions, it will be easier while analysing the data.

After that, Ms.Jinchi reviewed all the survey questions that I have and gave me feedback for me to improve the questions. The questions are quite related to the research questions & research objectives and don’t look too long to be answered.

Week 12 - Research Implementation

Ms.Jinchi checked my primary data analysis and conclusion and I also did some minor amendments (reword some words, add the quantity to the data, and need some literature to support the sentences), Ms.Jinchi also remind me that the reference list must be in alphabetical order.

Week 13 - Final Compilation

It’s not necessary to include the research theme and topic, as long as I’m able to fit it into the introduction part. Suggested to keep research topic. If we have sufficient time while presenting we may also give a few points about why we choose the research topic verbally, but it’s not compulsory. The slides are very clean, not too cluttered, the use of colours is neutral, and reflects the research topic. When the time we present the Google form, I can also reiterate its convenience. Allocate the general questions to one slide and specific questions to two or three slides. Reminder to include all the references at the end of the slides.

Week 14 - Final Compilation

Be consistence in the title of the key literature. Include some key points in the conclusion and constraints part. Scale down the font size of the references, and allocate them to two slides. Reminder to embed the recorded presentation video link in the thank you slide. The slides are good, clean, and straightforward with clear information.

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REFLECTION

Assignment 1

This assignment should be the most difficult one because we have to decide which field we want to focus on and study. Besides, we will also need to continue further exploring the topic we chose in the following semester. So this is a big decision for me that make me feel challenged the most. I actually struggled a lot when I'm choosing a topic that is suitable and interesting to me. However, with a clear guide and prompt from Ms.Jinchi, everything got clearer than before. At the same time, she also leads me to become a more independent person.

Assignment 2

This assignment is a little bit easier than the previous one. Because in Assignment 1, we learned how to research and find a suitable paper for our topic and the basic structure of a paper. So, in this assignment, all we need to do is just look for relevant papers, read them carefully and critique them. I found that it was incredibly helpful for us to finish our subsequent assignments and even for the next semester since it helps us to form our own opinions and to criticise things to get us to think about them further. Besides, we can also learn from their strengths and remind ourselves of what is not desirable (weakness).

Assignment 3

In my opinion, this would be the most interesting assignment of all. We learn how to design a series of questions that are relevant and meaningful to our research topic. The fun part of I would be that some of the responses I've gathered truly go against what I expected, while others do. This made my understanding of and inferences about my respondents more comprehensive.

Final Reflections

Experience: 

To be honest, I’m not a reading and writing person, and except the interest that’s the second reason that I chose to be a design student. I was expecting more design work than writing. But before this semester started, I knew a little bit about DRM from my seniors and I kept worried about this module. And of course, I was overwhelmed when the first assignment was given. But the patience of Ms.Jinchi made me calm down a bit. I didn’t really enjoy this module at first because there was so much writing to do, but with the clear guidance of Ms.Jinchi, I kind of get why we have to do these.

Observation:

I observed that I was not only learning while doing the assignments but also learning from my peers. When we had the consultation with Ms.Jinchi, there was some mistake of my peers that I also need to learn. Besides, I don’t really read that much before this module. I’ve learned how to research for a suitable paper, how to ask relevant questions, and how to analyse the collected data.

Findings:

I found that we actually do research in our daily lives, but just not as systematic as what we did in this module. We ask questions, and opinions, or even find out some answers to the questions that we are curious about. They are also a kind of research or study. The knowledge that I gained from this module made me a more thinking person. When I am curious about something, I will ask questions and try to find out the answer.