ITERATIVE PROCESS IN FORMULATING RESEARCH METHODS TO INVESTIGATE INTERACTION IN DESIGN

This paper describes an empirical and iterative process undertaken to formulating a research method for accessing the pragmatic and emotional dimensions of interactions in design. It reports methodological issues explored in an ongoing research, which aims to investigate the semantics of interactions and seeks to unveil users’ responses to the meanings triggered during the interactions with products.

A review of books, journal publications and conference proceedings on design issues reveals the wide range, and combinations of disciplines and methods, used by design researchers (Durling et al., 2002; Forlizzi et al., 2003; Jordan, 2000; McDonagh et al. 2004; Vihma, 1995). It is observed that, depending on the particularities of each study a specific method of investigation may be required. The various methods and models that have been applied to the investigation of the relationship of users with products depend heavily on the nature of the research. As a consequence, design researchers are constantly facing the challenge of constructing appropriate methods of investigation. That is the case in this study, as it explores the semantics of interaction in design (Krippendorff, 2006). It stresses the relationship between the meanings in products and the reactions triggered in users during interactions. As this is a research topic that still requires further empirical investigation, the study discussed in this paper cannot be other than experimental in nature and the process of designing the method empirically constructed.

The paper reports the dynamic – and sometimes unpredictable - process of formulating the preliminary experiments, the application of the tests, and the course of successive changes to subsequent test designs based on the direct observation of the participants’ behaviour and responses. The experiments are intended to reveal the variations of meanings in products beyond those related to functionality and usability. Hence, the main goal of the experiments was to provide data to devise a means of testing the research hypothesis as part of a doctoral study. The main objective has been to investigate the meaningful and emotional relationship between users and products. The study, and the experiments themselves, have been constructed as the result of a dynamic process where the results from earlier tests underpin the formulation and application of further tests.

The paper presents systematically: the combination of methods - such as video-observation, questionnaire, unstructured interview and open-ended questions; the empirical and iterative process that covers the design and application of two pilot tests to underpin the final test model; and the ensuing final test designed for the study. The paper concludes by depicting the main issues in undertaking iterative processes, and the combination of methods for constructing specific research methods; discussing how this process affects the whole scope of the research subject and findings; and highlighting the usefulness and implications of exploring tentative procedures and the combination of these methods in design research.

References

1. Durling, D., Shackleton, J. (eds.): Common Ground. Staffordshire University Press, Stoke-on-Trent (2002)
2. Forlizzi, J., Gemperle, F., DiSalvo, C.: Perceptive Sorting: A Method for Understanding Responses to Products. In: DPPI’03. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. June 23-26 (2003) 103-108
3. Jordan, P. W.: Designing Pleasurable Products. Taylor & Francis, London (2000) 137, 138
4. Krippendorff, K. The Semantic Turn. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006.
5. McDonagh, D., Hekkert, P., Erp, J., Guy, D. (eds.): Design and Emotion. Taylor & Francis, London (2004)
6. Vihma, S.: Products as representations. University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH, Helsinki (1995)