PRE Seminar 5

Theme 5: Design research

Part 1 (Monday)

How can media technologies be evaluated?
In the paper they use the ISO definitions of what they are trying to achieve, in this case usability and set up experements for how to test these things. Then they evaluate the success of the experiment and based on this conclude what was good or bad in the techology and what needs to be done to improve it.

Different HCI tools like "think aloud testing" can also be used. 

What role will prototypes play in research?
In research and development prototypes is used in different technical advanced steps to offer a good basis for decision making when evaluating and improving the product. It's also a way of showing the progress of the research to investors for continous financial support. 

Why could it be necessary to develop a proof of concept prototype?
The proof of concept prototype is used to test if the theory, technique or technology is feasible. If the results are promising, further research and development of the object can be done. If the tests if the prototype isn't successful the reaserch might be dropped or heavily redesigned.

What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?
- Prototypes will represent some compromise from the final production design
- Due to differences in materials, processes and design fidelity, it is possible that a prototype may fail to perform acceptably whereas the production design may have been sound. Howevery the vice versa might also occur if other procces that haven't yet been implemented in the prototype effects its performance.
- The prototype will probably be more expensive in producing as it's a single unit compared to further mass developing of the real product.
-The prototype can eliminate a lot of risks and errors, but not everyone!
-Parts of the complete product can be developed as a prototype to test problematic areas.

How can design research be communicated/presented?
The first protorype will probably look like a high school metal project, there for it might be good to refinde the aesthetics of the prototype before presenting it. It's also good to be very clear in the instructions of what the protoype is ment to show and what not. 

Part 2 (Wednesday)

How does a collaborative setting differ from a single user setting as regards methodology used and the results obtained?
A collaborative setting focuses on the communication and social interaction between the participants. The first text also emphasis that group work can increase a child’s potential to understand and solve more complicated problems dialogue with peers or an adult compared to when working alone. The text also argues it's a part of the socialization process.

How can qualitative and quantitative methods in the same study complement each other?
Qualitative methods can be used to gain a understanding of a problem or a phenomenon and as a base of forming a hypothesis and then a quantitative study can be used to test this hypothesis and if succesful be projected to a larger scale.

When combining the two methods the limitations of one type of data are balanced by the strengths of another, however it is important to plan in advance how these will be combined.

How can using both subjective and objective methods give a better understanding of a phenomenon?
When evaluating a subjective phenomenon it can be hard to measure and compare it. For example in healthcare pain is a subjective phenomenon but in order to treat it some kind of objective measurement is needed. Therorefor subjective and objective methods needs to be combined to give a better understanding of the situation.

When using subjective methods one is always putting the phenomenon in it's own context of perception which can infuelnce the resluts of the research. By applying objective methods to this subjevtive conclusion one might get a broader view of significance and generalizibility of the research.