RESEARCH DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

At the first stage, the design is carefully worked out (from the English. design- creative idea) of future research.

First of all, a research program is developed.

Program includes the topic, purpose and objectives of the study, formulated hypotheses, definition of the object of study, units and scope of observations, glossary of terms, description of statistical methods for forming a sample, collecting, storing, processing and analyzing data, methodology for conducting a pilot study, a list of statistical tools used .

Name themes usually formulated in one sentence, which should correspond to the purpose of the study.

Purpose of the study- this is a mental anticipation of the result of an activity and ways to achieve it with the help of certain means. As a rule, the purpose of medical and social research is not only theoretical (cognitive), but also practical (applied) in nature.

To achieve this goal, determine research objectives, that reveal and detail the content of the goal.

The most important component of the program are hypotheses (Expected results). Hypotheses are formulated using specific statistical indicators. The main requirement for hypotheses is the ability to test them in the research process. The results of the study can confirm, correct or refute the hypotheses put forward.

Prior to the collection of material, the object and unit of observation are determined. Under object of medical and social research understand a statistical set consisting of relatively homogeneous individual objects or phenomena - units of observation.

Unit of observation- the primary element of the statistical population, endowed with all the features to be studied.

The next important operation in the preparation of the study is the development and approval of the work plan. If the research program is a kind of strategic plan that embodies the ideas of the researcher, then the work plan (as an annex to the program) is a mechanism for the implementation of the study. The work plan includes: the procedure for selecting, training and organizing the work of direct executors; development of regulatory and methodological documents; determination of the required volume and types of resource support for the study (personnel, finance, material and technical, information resources, etc.); definition of terms and responsible for separate stages of research. It is usually presented in the form network graphics.

At the first stage of medical and social research, it is determined by what methods the selection of units of observation will be carried out. Depending on the volume, continuous and selective studies are distinguished. In a continuous study, all units of the general population are studied, in a selective study, only a part of the general population (sample) is studied.

General population called a set of qualitatively homogeneous units of observation, united by one or a group of features.

Sample population (sample)- any subset of observation units of the general population.

The formation of a sample population that fully reflects the characteristics of the general population is the most important task of statistical research. All judgments about the general population based on sample data are valid only for representative samples, i.e. for such samples, the characteristics of which correspond to those of the general population.

The real provision of representativeness of the sample is guaranteed random selection method those. such a selection of units of observation in the sample, in which all objects in the general population have the same chances of being selected. To ensure random selection, specially developed algorithms are used that implement this principle, either tables of random numbers, or a random number generator available in many computer software packages. The essence of these methods is to randomly indicate the numbers of those objects that must be selected from the entire population in some way ordered. For example, the general population "regional population" can be sorted by age, place of residence, alphabetical order (last name, first name, patronymic), etc.

Along with random selection, when organizing and conducting medical and social research, the following methods of forming a sample are also used:

Mechanical (systematic) selection;

Typological (stratified) selection;

serial selection;

Multistage (screening) selection;

cohort method;

The "copy-pair" method.

Mechanical (systematic) selection allows you to form a sample using a mechanical approach to the selection of units of observation of an ordered general population. At the same time, it is necessary to determine the ratio of the volumes of the sample and the general population and thereby establish the proportion of selection. For example, in order to study the structure of hospitalized patients, a sample of 20% of all patients who left the hospital is formed. In this case, among all the "medical records of an inpatient" (f. 003 / y), ordered by numbers, every fifth card should be selected.

Typological (stratified) selection involves a breakdown of the general population into typological groups (strata). When conducting medical and social research, age-sex, social, professional groups, individual settlements, as well as urban and rural populations are taken as typological groups. In this case, the number of units of observation from each group is selected in the sample randomly or mechanically in proportion to the size of the group. For example, when studying the cause-and-effect relationships of risk factors and oncological morbidity of the population, the study group is first divided into subgroups by age, gender, profession, social status, and then the required number of observation units is selected from each subgroup.

serial selection the sample is formed not from individual units of observation, but from whole series or groups (municipalities, health care institutions, schools, kindergartens, etc.). The selection of series is carried out using proper random or mechanical sampling. Within each series, all units of observation are studied. This method can be used, for example, to evaluate the effectiveness of the immunization of the child population.

Multistage (screening) selection involves a phased sampling. By the number of stages, one-stage, two-stage, three-stage selection, etc. are distinguished. So, for example, when studying the reproductive health of women living in the territory of a municipality, at the first stage, working women are selected, who are examined using basic screening tests. At the second stage, a specialized examination of women with children is carried out, at the third stage, an in-depth specialized examination of women with children with congenital malformations. Note that in this case of purposeful selection for a certain attribute, the sample includes all objects - carriers of the studied attribute on the territory of the municipality.

cohort method are used to study the statistical population of relatively homogeneous groups of people united by the onset of a certain demographic event in the same time interval. For example, when studying issues related to the problem of fertility, a population (cohort) is formed that is homogeneous on the basis of a single date of birth (a study of fertility by generations) or on the basis of a single age of marriage (a study of fertility by length of family life).

Copy-Pair Method provides for the selection for each unit of observation of the group under study of an object that is similar in one or more features (“copy-pair”). For example, factors such as body weight and sex of the child are known to influence infant mortality rates. When using this method, for each death of a child under 1 year of age, a “copy-pair” of the same sex, similar in age and body weight, is selected from among living children under the age of 1 year. This method of selection should be used to study risk factors for the development of socially significant diseases, individual causes of death.

At the first stage, research is also developed (ready-made is used) and replicated statistical toolkit (cards, questionnaires, table layouts, computer programs for controlling incoming information, forming and processing information databases, etc.), into which the studied information will be entered.

In the study of public health and the activities of the health care system, sociological research is often used using special questionnaires (questionnaires). Questionnaires (questionnaires) for medical and sociological research should be targeted, oriented, ensure the reliability, reliability and representativeness of the data recorded in them. During the development of questionnaires and interview programs, the following rules must be observed: the suitability of the questionnaire for collecting, processing and extracting the necessary information from it; the possibility of reviewing the questionnaire (without violating the system of codes) in order to eliminate unsuccessful questions and make appropriate adjustments; explanation of the goals and objectives of the study; clear wording of questions, eliminating the need for various additional explanations; fixed nature of most questions.

Skillful selection and combination of various types of questions - open, closed and semi-closed - can significantly increase the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the information received.

The quality of the survey and its results largely depend on whether the basic requirements for the design of the questionnaire and its graphic design are met. There are the following basic rules for constructing a questionnaire:

The questionnaire includes only the most significant questions, the answers to which will help to obtain the information necessary to solve the main objectives of the study, which cannot be obtained in any other way without conducting a questionnaire survey;

The wording of the questions and all the words in them should be understandable to the respondent and correspond to his level of knowledge and education;

The questionnaire should not contain questions that cause unwillingness to answer them. It is necessary to strive to ensure that all questions cause a positive reaction of the respondent and a desire to give complete and true information;

The organization and sequence of questions should be subject to obtaining the most necessary information to achieve the goal and solve the problems set in the study.

Special questionnaires (questionnaires) are widely used, among other things, to assess the quality of life of patients with a particular disease, the effectiveness of their treatment. They allow capturing changes in the quality of life of patients that have occurred over a relatively short period of time (usually 2-4 weeks). There are many special questionnaires, such as AQLQ (Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire) and AQ-20 (20-Item Asthma Questionnaire) for bronchial asthma, QLMI (Quality of Life after Myocardial Infarction Questionnaire) for patients with acute myocardial infarction, etc.

Coordination of work on the development of questionnaires and their adaptation to various linguistic and economic formations is carried out by an international non-profit organization for the study of the quality of life - the MAPI Institute (France).

Already at the first stage of the statistical study, it is necessary to draw up layouts of tables, which will be filled in the future with the data obtained.

In tables, as in grammatical sentences, the subject is distinguished, i.e. the main thing that is said in the table, and the predicate, i.e. that which characterizes the subject. Subject - this is the main feature of the phenomenon under study - it is usually located on the left along the horizontal lines of the table. Predicate - signs characterizing the subject are usually located on top of the vertical columns of the table.

When compiling tables, certain requirements are met:

The table should have a clear, concise title that reflects its essence;

The design of the table ends with the totals for columns and rows;

The table should not contain empty cells (if there is no sign, put a dash).

There are simple, group and combination (complex) types of tables.

A simple table is a table that presents a summary of data for only one attribute (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1. Simple table layout. Distribution of children by health groups, % of total

In the group table, the subject is characterized by several unrelated predicates (Table 1.2).

Table 1.2. Group table layout. Distribution of children by health groups, sex and age, % of the total

In the combination table, the signs characterizing the subject are interconnected (Table 1.3).

Table 1.3. Combination table layout. Distribution of children by health groups, age and gender, % of total

An important place in the preparatory period is occupied by pilot Study, whose task is to test statistical tools, to verify the correctness of the developed methodology for collecting and processing data. The most successful is such a pilot study, which repeats on a reduced scale the main one, i.e. makes it possible to check all the upcoming stages of work. Depending on the results of the preliminary analysis of the data obtained during piloting, the statistical tools, methods of collecting and processing information are adjusted.

RESEARCH DESIGN IN MEDICINE

Prof. A.O.Gusan

The publication of many scientific materials in the domestic and foreign press, as well as the experience of editing collections of scientific papers that have already been held for the 11th year of conferences of doctors in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic with the participation of many domestic and foreign scientists allow me to give some recommendations on the implementation of scientific research and the presentation of their results. .

In each medical specialty, physicians use their own specific research methods. However, there are general principles of methodology and methods of research work that should be followed in the process of performing scientific work in any branch of medicine. The performance of any scientific work should be carried out in accordance with the international requirements of the main methodological and methodological approaches. This is an urgent requirement of the time, given the pronounced integration of Russian medical science into the world.

Unfortunately, to date, the methodology of planning scientific work and especially the issues of biostatistics have not been studied at medical higher educational institutions, therefore I consider it appropriate and useful to briefly consider the basic requirements that a doctor should be guided by when drawing up the results of his scientific research.

In this information message, we will focus on the most common form of presenting the results of a scientific study - a scientific article.

A scientific article is a scientific work limited in scope, which sets out a reasoned system of the author's views on a specific issue. The most important requirements for a scientific article: the relevance of the issue raised in it, the depth of the phenomena, events and facts covered, the specificity and validity of the conclusions and generalizations made.

Any scientific research includes several blocks of interrelated stages. The first one is pre-scheduled research, drawing up and approval of the research plan. The second includes the research process itself (collection of materials characterizing the problem under study, accumulation of factual data about it, their systematization, development of certain ideas about the problem). The third part of the study is the presentation of the results of scientific research (interpretation, report, publication).

When writing any scientific article, the author must submit an analytical review of the literature on the chosen topic with a rationale for the need for this work. Most often, these can be questions on a given topic that are not sufficiently covered by now, or the author puts forward new research methods that allow deepening knowledge on this issue, etc. The topic of the work can be a clinical case, an observation that is important for practical work experience, etc.

The next very important section of any study is the characteristics of its design. The results of research are largely determined by the correctness of the chosen research methods. To evaluate the effectiveness of new methods of diagnosis, prevention and treatment, to eliminate errors and correctly interpret the results of clinical trials, they must be carried out within the framework of randomized controlled trials, which are considered the "gold standard" for clinical comparisons.

A controlled clinical trial is a prospective study in which matched groups receive different types of treatment: patients in the control group receive the standard (usually the best in modern terms), and patients in the experimental group receive a new treatment. The most important condition that ensures the reliability of a controlled study is the homogeneity of the group of patients for all signs that affect the outcome of the disease (gender, age, the presence of concomitant diseases, the severity and stage of the underlying disease, etc.). Given the presence of many interrelated factors that determine the prognosis, as well as "hidden" prognostic factors, it is possible to achieve comparability of observation groups to the fullest extent only when using the method of random distribution of patients into groups, i.e., randomization (random - random). True randomization implies the obligatory observance of the unpredictable nature of the distribution of patients into groups (the researcher cannot predict which group the next patient falls into - “blind selection”). To increase the efficiency of randomization, preliminary stratification is carried out - the distribution of treatment options is carried out in homogeneous groups of patients formed according to leading prognostic signs (stratification randomization).

The section "Materials and methods of research" indicates the number of patients in the control and main groups, their homogeneity by sex, age, severity of the course, the presence of concomitant diseases. Reliable clinical results can only be obtained with a sufficient number of observations in both groups.

Determining the optimal number of observation cases is an important step in experiment planning. So, in cases where the results of the study will be expressed qualitatively, a much larger number of observations is required than when using quantitative estimates expressed by arithmetic mean values. In addition, it should be remembered that a small number of studies reduces their accuracy and reliability. To increase the accuracy of the study by 2 times, it is necessary to increase the number of observations by 4 times. At the same time, the number of observed cases in the control and experimental groups does not have to be the same. The number of cases required for the experiment is determined when planning R&D in each case individually according to special formulas described in a number of reference books on medical statistics.

In accordance with the International Ethical Requirements for Biomedical Research Involving Humans and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, all medical research involving humans must be based on three ethical principles: respect for the individual, achievement of benefit, justice. In all biomedical research involving humans (sick or healthy), the investigator must obtain the informed consent of the subjects who will participate in the trial, and if the research subject (SR) is not able to give it, the informed consent of a close relative or authorized representative. Informed consent means the consent of a competent SI who has received all the necessary information, adequately understands it and makes a decision freely, without undue influence, inducement or threat. The SI should receive information about the purpose, methods, duration of the study, expected risk or discomfort, alternative procedures, degree of confidentiality, the ability to withdraw from the study at any time.

The section "Material and methods of research" should be described in such detail that any other researcher could, if desired, reproduce the work. At the end of this section, the methods of statistical processing of the obtained result and the software used for this are indicated. The analysis of statistical data is carried out by appropriate mathematical processing of the results obtained, the techniques and methods of which are described in detail in special manuals on medical statistics. In recent years, statistical data processing has been carried out on a PC using special software packages (for example, Statgraph, etc.), which allow you to quickly calculate the average values ​​and relative coefficients, identify the nature and strength of the relationship, the degree of reliability, build analytical tables, charts and graphs.

The scientific processing of research materials is completed in the “Results and Discussion” section and involves the following main elements: comparison of data, assessment of their reliability and the results of the study as a whole. This section usually includes the necessary illustrative material (tables, figures, graphs, etc.). At the same time, it must be remembered that the description of the illustrations should not be a repetition of what has already been reflected in the text of the article.

The conclusions of the work should correspond to the title of the article, the goals and objectives set by the author.

The list of references should contain all sources used. In this case, the citation system may be different. Each scientific journal, the editorial board of any collection of works has its own requirements for the structure of the article, the design of illustrative material and the list of references used. In this regard, each author should familiarize himself with the rules of the publication to which he is preparing to send his research materials.

In the domestic medical literature, the Harvard system is most common. After the reference to the opinion of the author, his initials, surname, after a comma, the year of publication of the work are indicated in brackets. In the list of references, the sources are presented in alphabetical order by the names of the authors. A more advanced version of this system involves replacing the names of the authors and the year of publication with the serial number of the work in the attached list of references, also compiled in alphabetical order. This number is usually enclosed in square brackets.

You should carefully check the output of each literary source, indicating the surname and initials of the author (or authors), the title of the article or section of the monograph, then the name of the journal or other printed publication, indicate the year (for books, the year and place) of publication, volume, journal number, pages . First, a list of domestic authors is compiled in alphabetical order, then foreign authors.

Examples of compiling a list of references.

Samples of bibliographic writing of literature (GOST R 7.0.5-2008. Bibliographic reference. General requirements and rules for compilation. - M .: Standartinform. - 2008. - 19 p.)

1. VoyachekV. I. Fundamentals of otorhinolaryngology. - L .: Medgiz, 1963. - 348 p.

2. Blotsky A. A., Pluzhnikov M. S. Snoring phenomenon and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. - SPb.: Spets.lit., 2002.-176 p.

3. Preobrazhensky B. S., Temkin Ya. S., Likhachev A. G. Diseases of the ear, throat and nose. - M .: Medicine, 1968. - 495 p. More than three authors

4. Fundamentals of audiology and hearing aid / VG Bazarov [et al.]. — M.: Medicine, 1984. — 252 p.

5. Borzov E. V. The role of perinatal factors in the formation of the pathology of the pharyngeal tonsil // news of otorhinolaryngology and logopathology. - 2002. - No. 2. - S. 7-10.

6. Kovaleva L. M., Mefedovskaya E. K. Etiology and pathogenesis of sphenoiditis in children // News of otorhinolaryngology and logopathology. - 2002. - No. 2. - S. 20-24.

7. Vocal cord injection with autogenous fat: A long-term magnetic resonance. nee imaging evaluation / J.H. Brandenburg // Laryngoscope. - 1996. - Vol. 106, No. 2, pt. 1. - P. 174-180.

By the same principle, articles from collections of works and (or) abstracts of reports are cited.

Articles from collections:

8. Korobkov G. A. The pace of speech. Modern problems of physiology and pathology of speech: Sat. tr. Mosk.NIIuha, throat and nose; Leningrad. Research Institute of Ear, Throat, Nose and Speech. - M., 1989. - T. 23. - S. 107-111.

Clinical Research Design

The design of a clinical trial is the plan for conducting it. The design of a particular clinical trial depends on the goals pursued by the study. Consider three common design options:

Clinical study in one group (single group design)

Clinical study in parallel groups (parallel group design)

Clinical study in a crossover group design

Clinical study in one group

(single group design)

In a single-group study, all subjects receive the same experimental treatment. This study design aims to compare treatment outcomes with baseline. Thus, subjects are not randomized to treatment groups.

The single-group clinical trial model can be illustrated as follows:

Screening -- Inclusion -- Baseline -- Treatment -- Outcomes

The single group model can be used in Phase I studies. Single-arm study models are generally not used in Phase III clinical trials.

The main disadvantage of the single-arm study model is the lack of a comparison group. The effects of experimental treatment cannot be differentiated from the effects of other variables.

Clinical study in parallel groups

(parallel group design)

When conducting clinical trials in parallel groups, the subjects of two or more groups receive different therapy. To achieve statistical significance (to eliminate systematic errors), the subjects are divided into groups by the method of random distribution (randomization).

The parallel group clinical study model can be illustrated as follows:

Treatment a -- Outcomes a

Treatment b -- Outcomes b

Where a, b are different drugs or different doses or placebo

Clinical trials in parallel group design are costly, time consuming, and require a large number of subjects (with a low event rate). However, clinical studies in parallel groups are the most objective in determining the effectiveness of treatment and accurate in formulating conclusions. Most clinical trials are thus conducted in parallel group design.

Sometimes studies in parallel groups can be used in two versions - these are factorial and heterogeneous models.

factorial design-- this is a design based on several (more than 2) parallel groups. Such studies are performed when a combination of different drugs (or different doses of the same drug) needs to be studied.

The factorial model of clinical research can be illustrated as follows:

Screening -- Inclusion -- Run-up -- Baseline -- Randomization --

Treatment a -- Outcomes a

Treatment b -- Outcomes b

Treatment with -- Outcomes with

Treatment in -- Outcomes in

Where a, b, c, d are different drugs or different doses or placebo

The factorial model is useful in evaluating combination drugs.

The disadvantage of the factorial model is the need to involve a large number of subjects and, as a result, an increase in the cost of research.

Withdrawal (Discontinuation) Design

A heterogeneous model is a variant of parallel-group studies where all subjects are initially treated with experimental treatment, then patients with appropriate reactions are randomized into groups using double-blind or placebo technology to continue experimental treatment. This model is usually used to assess the effectiveness of experimental treatment by discontinuing the drug immediately after the onset of the reaction and registering relapse or remission. On fig. 5 is a diagram of a heterogeneous research model.

Screening - Inclusion - Experimental treatment - Treatment response - Randomization of responders - Treatment or Placebo

A heterogeneous design of studies is especially effective for the evaluation of medicines intended for the treatment of intractable diseases. In such studies, only a small percentage of subjects show responses to treatment.

During the treatment period, responses are identified, and a heterogeneous randomization phase is used to demonstrate that the response is real and not a response to placebo. In addition, heterogeneous models are used to study relapses.

The disadvantages of heterogeneous models are:

a large number of subjects who initially receive treatment to detect responses

Significant duration of the study

The preparatory period should last long enough for the patients to stabilize and the effect of the drug to be more clearly revealed. It should be noted that the percentage of subjects excluded from these studies can be high.

Ethical considerations require careful consideration of the use of this research design, as it may require the drug to be excluded from therapy if it provides relief to patients. Rigorous monitoring and clear definition of endpoint indicators are of paramount importance.

"Cross" model

(Crossover Design)

Unlike parallel-group study designs, cross-sectional models allow the effects of both study drugs and comparative treatments to be assessed in the same subjects. The subjects are randomized into groups in which the same course of treatment is carried out, but with a different sequence. As a rule, a "washout" period is necessary between courses in order for the patient's indicators to return to baseline, and also in order to exclude the undesirable influence of the residual effects of the previous treatment on the effects of the subsequent one. A "washout" period is not necessary if the analyzes of individual reactions of the subject are limited to their comparison at the end of each course, and the treatment period lasts long enough. Some crossover models use pre-crossover, which means that patients who are excluded from studies at the treatment stage can be transferred to alternative treatment groups earlier than planned.

Screening - Preparation period - Condition control - Randomization - Treatment A in group 1 and Treatment B in group 2 - Washout period - Treatment B in group 1 and Treatment A in group 2

"Crossover" models are commonly used to study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics when the goal is to control variability within a population of subjects. In addition, it is fair to assume that the effects of the first course do not affect the second in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies with a sufficient "washout" period.

"Crossover" models are more economical than parallel group models because they require fewer subjects. However, sometimes there are difficulties in interpreting the results. The effects of one therapy can be mixed with the effects of the next. It can be difficult to distinguish the effects of sequential treatments from the effects of individual courses. In clinical trials, the crossover model usually takes longer than parallel group studies because each patient goes through at least two treatment periods plus a washout period. This model also requires more characterization for each patient.

If the clinical conditions are relatively constant throughout the duration of the study, then the "cross-over" model is effective and reliable.

Relatively low sample size requirements make cross-sectional models useful in early clinical development in order to facilitate decisions on larger parallel study models. Because all subjects receive the study drug, cross-over studies are also effective for assessing safety.

Theoretical Validation in Sociological Research: Methodology and Methods

In the social sciences, there are various types of research and, accordingly, opportunities for the researcher. Knowing about them will help you solve the most difficult problems.

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Research Strategies
In the social sciences, it is customary to single out the two most common research strategies - quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative strategy involves using a deductive approach to test hypotheses or theories, relies on the positivist approach of the natural sciences, and is inherently objectivist. A qualitative strategy, on the other hand, focuses on an inductive approach for developing theories, rejects positivism, focuses on an individual interpretation of social reality, and is constructivist in nature.
Each of the strategies involves the use of specific data collection and analysis methods. The quantitative strategy is based on the collection of numerical data (mass survey data encodings, aggregated testing data, etc.) and the use of mathematical statistics methods for their analysis. In turn, a qualitative strategy is based on the collection of textual data (texts of individual interviews, participant observation data, etc.) and their further structuring using special analytical techniques.
Since the beginning of the 90s, a mixed strategy began to actively develop, which consists in integrating the principles, methods for collecting and analyzing data from qualitative and quantitative strategies in order to obtain more reasonable and reliable results.

Research designs
Once the purpose of the study has been determined, the appropriate type of design must be determined. Study design is the combination of data collection and analysis requirements necessary to achieve the study objectives.
Main types of design:
Cross-sectional design involves collecting data on a relatively large number of observation units. As a rule, it involves the use of a sampling method in order to represent the general population. The data is collected once and is quantitative. Further, descriptive and correlation characteristics are calculated, statistical conclusions are drawn.
Longitudinal design consists of repeated cross-sectional interviews to establish changes over time. It is divided into panel studies (the same people take part in repeated surveys) and cohort studies (different groups of people who represent the same general population take part in repeated surveys).
Experimental design involves identifying the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable by leveling the threats that may affect the nature of the change in the dependent variable.
The design of a case study is intended to study one or a small number of cases in detail. The emphasis is not on the distribution of the results to the entire population, but on the quality of theoretical analysis and explanation of the mechanism of functioning of a particular phenomenon.

Research goals
Among the goals of social research are description, explanation, evaluation, comparison, analysis of relationships, the study of cause-and-effect relationships.
Descriptive tasks are solved by simply collecting data using one of the methods that are appropriate in a given situation - questionnaires, observations, document analysis, etc. One of the main tasks in this case is such a fixation of data, which in the future will allow their aggregation.
To solve explanatory problems, a number of research approaches are used (for example, historical studies, case studies, experiments), which allow dealing with the analysis of complex data. Their goal is not only a simple collection of facts, but also the identification of the meanings of a large set of social, political, cultural elements associated with the problem.
The general purpose of evaluation studies is to test programs or projects in terms of awareness, effectiveness, achievement of objectives, etc. The results obtained are usually used to improve them, and sometimes simply to better understand the functioning of the programs and projects concerned.

Comparative studies are used for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under study by identifying its common and distinctive features in various social groups. The largest of them are held in cross-cultural and cross-national contexts.
Studies to establish relationships between variables are also called correlation studies. The result of such studies is the receipt of specific descriptive information (for example, see about the analysis of pairwise relationships). This is fundamentally quantitative research.
Establishing cause-and-effect relationships involves conducting experimental studies. In the social and behavioral sciences, there are several varieties of this kind of research: randomized experiments, true experiments (involving the creation of special experimental conditions that simulate the necessary conditions), sociometry (of course, as J. Moreno understood it), Garfinkeling.

blind luck

The mythical image of the designer as a lonely dreamer does not allow to see the similarity between him and the film director. However, when the lights go out in the cinema, we look forward to being allowed to enter the world created by the imagination of the latter. Many moviegoers were introduced to the chilling world created by director Adrian Lyne when his 1987 film Fatal Attraction ( Fatal attraction) became the highest-grossing film of the year. In the climactic scene of the film, Glenn Close, skillfully wielding a knife, bleeds to the other world in the arms of Michael Douglas. Apparently, this Adrian Lyne has a very vivid and vengeful imagination. Although, perhaps not at all with him ...

In this particular case, this cinematic vision came from suburban American moviegoers. During a test screening of the film, which ended with Glenn Close's suicide scene, the indignant audience loudly demanded blood, and on a much larger scale than could be extracted from suicide. It was this audience reaction that convinced the film company Paramount spend over a million more dollars filming a different, bloodthirsty ending.

Today, making a movie that becomes a box office hit is no longer the blind luck it once was. The same is true for the development of successful products or programs. Through methods such as focus groups, hall tests and a number of others, design receives information from consumers, learns their reaction to new concepts and prototypes of products. For example, in a Swedish factory Orrefors Glass an annual conference of buyers and distributors is held, the purpose of which is to review the new range and make proposals for adapting product design to various national markets. AT Hilti Powertools users work with designers to evaluate new product ideas. In company Microsoft developers sign up to receive user feedback on products by e-mail, which allows them to address emerging issues in the next version of the program.

Whether we're creating a film, a glass, a mechanical instrument, or a word processor, we need adequate methods to determine whether the wishes and needs of consumers are being met. And in product design, we also need to be competitive with existing products, to ensure that our work reflects the ever-changing trends and trends in design, technology and culture.

In this chapter, we will explain why research is so vital and how it can be used in experience-first design. We will look at the main research methods and analyze in more detail those that have been relatively recently improved in response to the challenges of a new consumer culture and technological opportunities.

Research and design process

Most designers claim that they are not researchers at all, although in reality they are often engaged in just research. Let's use a comparison of the two models provided by Nijuis and Bercema, the design process model and the applied research process model (Figure 4.1).

The similarities are clear: both design and research involve identifying a problem, taking a predetermined sequence of steps to explore that problem, and finding the most appropriate solution. Each step involves research, that is, the process of finding the information needed as a basis for each stage of the product creation process. So, for design practitioners, design research is a process of searching in three areas.

Search for understanding

To design effectively, a designer must have a deep understanding of the context* in which they will be working.

But these studies are not necessarily and are not always carried out consciously. Many designers have an innate ability to be on the same wavelength with the environment, people and their needs, with color, shape and material; this kind of immersion in the material world allows them to use the acquired knowledge in the design process. However, there is often also a need to collect information about the markets and all parties interested in the appearance of the product (including customers, users, manufacturers), and for this there are special tools, techniques and disciplines.

Search for ideas

During design, the designer is looking for ideas that can help him give the product a certain form, which includes the functions of the product, the materials from which it should be made, and its aesthetics. Here, again, the designer uses predominantly his intuitive knowledge, but often intuition, as a rule, needs the help of conscious research activity. It all depends on the creative talent of the designer and his ability to use the available knowledge to spur his imagination. Having decided on the context of the design task, the designer begins to search for ideas. Some of the techniques for generating creative ideas are used to stimulate the creative process (module 4.1). They are also called design methods.

Module 4.1. Techniques for finding creative ideas

Brainstorm

A method of group participation in the generation of ideas to find a solution to a specific problem.

Goal Tree

A technique that consists of listing design goals and project subgoals and plotting the hierarchical relationships between them.

Counter planning

This technique requires the analysis of the premises and the justification of the problem, solution, plan or design through the process of proposing and considering opposing premises, which results in a final, revised solution, plan or understanding.

Interaction Matrix

Exploring and scheduling interactions between multiple elements within a problem being solved.

Interaction network

Turning an interaction matrix into a representation of spatial or other relationships between problem elements.

Forced connections

A way of generating innovation that consists in looking for likely links that do not currently clearly exist between the components of a product or system.

New Combinations

Search for new, previously non-existing combinations of alternative components.

Source: abbreviated from the Open University Design Methods Module ( open University,ou).

Searching of decisions

Finally, in the process of direct work on the design concept and solutions, the designer conducts (formally or informally) research, which involves not only the use of all kinds of creative techniques, but also a methodical search for processes, materials, technologies and ideas. It is not uncommon for designers to organize their own information repositories. So, in the design bureau PSD a room of trends and technologies has been specially created for its employees, where relevant information is stored about them.

It is quite obvious that these search categories are interdependent and complement each other. Understanding context, searching for ideas, and testing concepts overlap (Figure 4.2).

Design Process

The designer does not conduct these searches consistently: first - understanding, then - ideas, and finally - solutions. The design process is more like a constant alternation of tides

and ebb and flow, which can be illustrated by the four main categories of the design process: formulation, development, transfer, and reaction.

Wording is related to the identification of needs and the planning of the task statement. This beginning of the design and development process of a new product is often referred to as a "fuzzy start": at this stage, the designer and other participants in the product development process try to understand the needs, requirements and wishes of all interested parties, and the result is the definition of incentives for the subsequent generation of ideas.

There are two parts to this process (Figure 4.3). One of them is the study of the environment in general, when the designer and representatives of other functions of the company, such as sales and marketing, study trends, collect general information about the market, observe users and consumers, track product use and feedback. Very often, the designer takes on only the observation of trends and consumers, which is carried out formally or, which happens more often, informally. He can go to exhibitions, visit retail outlets, watch TV and purposefully collect information about the market and users. The market research department and sales staff also collect similar information, but at the official level. The designer's goal is to intuitively understand the world in which he is going to work in order to enable the generation of ideas and start the creative process. In other words, he is in search of understanding and ideas.

Once the problem or concept is defined, the search becomes more focused and specific research techniques are applied, often referred to as the requirements statement process (Figure 4.4). The process of collecting and transforming information to develop requirements uses formalized methodologies, usually borrowed from the field of market research, but with the advent of ethnographic methods, the capture of research results and control of their use and value throughout the entire course of product development, that is, the requirements management process, has become the most important aspect. .

Development associated with the generation of ideas, concepts and detailed design development. At this stage, the designer searches for ideas, using existing knowledge, information and creative techniques to develop concepts; decides which technologies, materials and processes will contribute to generating ideas and finding solutions; tests design concepts and revises the developed design, taking into account the reaction of the context and users to this design.

Transfer covers the introduction of the design into production and the release of the product to the market or its delivery to the user or consumer. Here, the research is solely about ensuring a smooth transfer of design to production - much of the research has already been done in previous planning stages. But even at this stage, the designer receives certain knowledge and experience in understanding the production and implementation process. The information obtained will be extremely useful for him in solving future design problems.

On the stage reactions the designer addresses the results of his work, evaluating them in terms of the reactions of users and other interested parties, and also evaluates the entire process and the knowledge gained. All this is part of the learning process for the designer and the organization as a whole. The body of knowledge gained and the information gathered will help in the quest to understand the impression that design creates.

Thus, research, design searches and the design process itself are interconnected and intersect many times. It is an ongoing process of learning and knowledge management. Figure 4.5 shows the relationship of research activity (we will discuss its types in more detail a little later) with the concept of search and the design process. The diagram clearly demonstrates that research is predominantly a designer's domain, especially early in the design process. Now we have to answer the question why this is necessary and what research methods are most effective.

Research to Minimize Risk

Any design is a risk. You can never know for sure whether an idea will work or not. But, as statistics show, effective research helps to minimize the risk. According to Gillian and Bill Hollins, only 5% of all design ideas that originate in the industry lead to a commercially successful product 4 . About 80% of ideas are discarded before the design requirements are defined, and yet many of them are a necessary part of the idea generation process. But the further the design progresses in the process of developing a new product, the more expensive it becomes. Only one out of three products launched into the market achieves commercial success, and therefore, in order to reduce the risk and cost of failure, it is necessary to determine in advance the factors that contribute to the success of the product in the market.

Cooper and Kleinschmidt analyzed 203 new product launches, both successful and unsuccessful 5 . Their study revealed nine factors that are directly related to the success of new products; three of them had the strongest impact.

Advantages of the product - the product provided the consumer with unique opportunities; it turned out to be high quality, innovative, worth the money paid for it and helped to solve the problem that the consumer was facing.

High level of pre-project preparation - with products that turned out to be successful, a number of preliminary activities were carried out: preliminary review, preliminary market assessment, detailed market research and financial analysis.

A clear definition of the product - even before the product development stage, a clear definition of the target market segment, consumer needs, wishes and preferences, the concept and technical characteristics of the product was carried out.

In other words, the success of products is rooted in a deep understanding of the customer, the market, and the advantages of a new product concept over competitors. Obtaining all this information is often the prerogative of specialists in this field. In-house marketing departments, market research consultants and other professionals help the design process on its way to success. However, designers still need to understand the nature of the existing research tools and how they can be adapted to their own needs while working on smaller projects.

Studying competitors

If successful design is to give a product an edge over competitive products, the first step is to carefully analyze and evaluate competitors. This will help either to discover those free niches in the market that the design will help to fill, providing the right price, functionality, style or any other characteristic of the product that is created with its help, or to identify the initial inexpediency of entering the competition.

Some companies literally take their competitors' products apart to find out how they are designed and manufactured. In 1960 the company Ford Motors undertook
such reverse engineering analysis BMC Mini*. After examining the machine down to the last weld and carefully determining the price of its assembly, the engineers Ford came to the conclusion that the production was unprofitable BMC Mini and, consequently, the futility of competing with Mini by price. Designer James Pilditch, while on a business trip to Japan, found that all electronics companies were doing this kind of engineering analysis of their competitors' products.

Market research reports provide useful background information about competitors, market-leading products, but these studies rarely provide detailed and descriptive information. Many designers resort to critical constructive analysis, extracting information from other, very different sources. These are trade fairs and exhibitions, industrial magazines, articles in Which?**, Kompass(a "who makes and sells" guide found in most libraries) and window shopping. As soon as a designer is armed with sales brochures, price lists, reviews and other information, he begins to understand something in it.

Market research

Welsh shoppers pay 5% more attention to color when buying pottery than Yorkshire shoppers. The durability of cookware is irrelevant for those over 65 and under 25. When choosing dishes, Manchester residents are more concerned about the price than residents of other regions. Last year, 56% of men purchased at least one T-shirt. 96.5% of consumers expressed their disapproval when they were shown a particularly outstanding designer teapot…

Market Research Reports (MRs) consist of observations such as those listed above regarding consumer preferences and behavior. Typically, the IR industry collects and collates information from producers, vendors, and consumers through extensive research. Sometimes companies commission research exclusively for themselves in order to compare their products with those of competitors.

Such formal market research is undoubtedly an important source of knowledge about the consumer, although not all companies

able to use them effectively. According to a study by the Design Innovation Group in the UK, about 90% of successful non-UK companies use formal R&D in product planning, compared to less than half of UK firms. From its results, it followed that in the process of product planning and design development, successful companies drew information from a variety of sources, supplementing formal R&D with other methods. Figure 4.6, based on the results of the study, presents the sources of information used by successful firms. Less successful companies showed a tendency to use only the first three sources of all listed.

As we will see a little later, formal IR is often imprecise and generalized and is more of a form of response than proactive action. Such research cannot help designers adapt existing products or come up with new concepts that can anticipate future needs. The term “creative marketing” is used to refer to inherently higher quality R&D methods (providing more detailed information about the views of consumers and about various alternative concepts). It involves teams of researchers, designers, and consumers who repeatedly discuss product ideas, first before the design specifications are defined, and again after the prototypes have been made.

One of the methods used to find out the opinion of consumers is focus group: A group of typical consumers of six or eight people come together to evaluate a product already on the market or some new concept. The facilitator* encourages group members to speak their minds openly and discuss proposals in an informal, open manner. Focus group research, a technique well established in new product development, also helped Tony Blair in developing new New Labour's principles and policies. Leaving aside the ethical doubts about whether policy decisions can be based on market research, let's consider the effectiveness of the focus group method and its inherent limitations.

A recent study at Loughborough University involved designers participating in focus groups to evaluate existing products. The benefit turned out to be obvious: designers begin not only to better feel and understand the end user, but also to more confidently develop designs for a wide variety of consumer groups; they receive useful information for their work, although the process itself takes a lot of time. However, according to Donald Norman, focus groups “show what matters in the present moment, but by no means what may be significant in the future. It is incredibly difficult for users to imagine how they might use a particular new product in the future, and when it comes to completely new categories of products, it is better to forget about focus groups altogether. Norman goes even further, arguing that the behavior of focus group participants is dominated by a rational component, which does not always underlie the real behavior of people. In short, people can say one thing and do something completely different.

This is especially true for children. They are lying. And by no means because of innate deceit: children tend to say what they think adults want to hear from them, and not to answer sincerely - any parent will confirm this. Therefore, giving a child a prototype toy and asking him what he thinks of it is far from the best research method. IN THE USA Fisher price developed a research system known as playlab (from English - "game laboratory"). The company carefully selects a group of children and invites them to play in a room full of new toys. Researchers observe children through translucent mirrors and find out which toys children play with most actively and which arouse their strong interest.

Is that the whole secret of successful design - just gather a few customers, design according to their requirements, and wait for an avalanche of orders to fall upon you? Any research method requires a certain degree of caution in approaching it. The case we are considering is no exception: it is necessary first to make sure of the degree of representativeness of the group members as consumers. In addition, the whole process will benefit if the group includes more consumers who are interested in the future than consumers who are hostile to everything new.

In his book Liberation Management ( Liberation Management) Tom Peters tells how one firm was able to solve this problem. Company Hilti, a manufacturer of professional mechanical tools, used a method developed by Professor Eric von Hippel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology). The user-leading market research method involves first identifying the users most open to new ideas and innovations and then engaging them in product development workshops (where they, along with marketers and designers, help develop and evaluate design ideas). As part of the new product development process, the user-leader method has led Hilti to reduce development costs by up to 50%.

Lifestyle study

Rumor has it that the chief designer of the company Sony Yasuo Kuroki once said, “I don't believe in market research. They don't help us develop new products at all." According to Christopher Lorenz, the point of view Sony Deserves attention.

In 1960, the American electronics giant General Electric abandoned plans to produce portable televisions after market research showed that consumers did not see a need for such a product. In the same year Sony launched an 8-inch TV that sold for twice the retail price of 21-inch TVs. The product was a huge success and provided a launching pad for the Japanese companies that would eventually dominate the American TV market.

Yet success Sony was by no means ignoring market research. Rather, it was the result of the use of new and more adequate methods. Instead of relying on the opinions of consumers who are often skeptical or distrustful of change, Sony decided to analyze patterns of behavior and changes in culture. Virtually every American family had a television with multiple channels and was subject to a process of cultural fragmentation as the younger generation chose to entertain differently than their parents. Add up all these facts, and you get the need for an extra television for the kids to watch and listen to Elvis, or for the housewife, and then Lucille Ball can help her cook dinner.

Lifestyle research has now become a core activity in many of Japan's leading companies, with design departments in some of them having units such as trend research centers or lifestyle research centers where sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists work alongside designers. In company Mazda The job of the Design Research team is not just reading technical reports on carbon fibers. Magazines included in the must-read lists Vogue and The face, and designers are sent on business trips to observe people (which they do when visiting European bars and restaurants). These trends have led to the emergence of a more powerful form of ethnographic research, which we will explore later in this chapter.

Studying Trends

Increasingly, design is associated with the satisfaction of humanitarian needs - with lifestyle, fashion, changing tastes, cultural significance. Closely intertwined with design, trends are a collection of various developments in the technological world that give rise to new areas of design application and new needs. How can a designer understand these processes of change and predict their further development?

The shapes, colors and materials that are popular today influence the nature of the objects that designers design. A number of factors determine the types of communication and environmental objects. But technology capabilities are crucial, and this is obvious. For example, plastic molding technology became a key factor in the dominant aesthetic of the 1950s and 1960s. The manipulation of computer images set trends in graphic design in the 1990s, and today new production techniques and materials are driving more diversity in design.

It is quite obvious that trends in design are also influenced by the state of the political economy. Thus James Laver, a specialist in fashion history, goes so far as to link the length of women's skirts with the state of the country's economy, believing that economic growth and women's skirts rise and fall in apparent harmony with each other 13 .

In addition, of course, there are also social and cultural relations. Thus, over the past 30 years, our attitude towards the environment has undergone significant transformations. Instead of disposable furniture from the 1960s, we increasingly prefer things made from recycled materials. Substances as subtle as taste and fashion also influence style. What you need to be especially aware of is that fashion today is much more diverse than in the past. And the trends in the design itself are far from the same type.

But instead of diving headlong into the existing diversity and surrendering to the ever-increasing rate of change in fashion and design trends, we must find ways to unwind this tangle of threads and understand what factors are causing the changes we are interested in. Perhaps in this way we will be able to predict the direction of these changes in the future.

Technological changes such as the development of microelectronics, information technology, the emergence of new materials, advanced manufacturing technologies and the development of biotechnology will continue to affect all areas of design (module 4.2). It is quite obvious that we need to keep pace with these phenomena and plan for their future development. In textiles, for example, new design possibilities are offered by the use of metalstyle, developed for use in industry, today used by fashion designers such as Helen Storey, who created fashion concepts for ICI(using insulating material for greenhouses). In the future, design innovation is likely to be the result of technology convergence, resulting in hybrid products that combine functionality and technology.

Module 4.2. When clothes merge with electronics

In 2000 Philips design started production of its portable electronics ( wearable Electronics), launching on the market products that combine electronic and textile technologies. Design experts in electronics, consumer and fashion have collaborated to develop garments with integrated electronics. According to Peter Sarangi, Head of Research Laboratories Philips in the UK, where the concept clothing was developed, “people carry more and more electronic products, such as mobile phones, PDAs, radios or players. And the trend is only getting stronger. So it makes perfect sense to start embedding these products right INSIDE of our clothes.”

Modern fabrics, in which the cable is embedded, become a wearable network, to which various components are connected at will. Children's clothes can be embedded with mobile phones and tracking systems, allowing parents to never lose sight of their children, or equipped with play systems and diversify children's entertainment. With the help of clothes made of interactive fabric, nightclub lovers will be able to choose club music and lighting. BUT Philips already offers pager sneakers that light up when a person who shares your interests is nearby.

Source: press releases Philips, http:// www. research. Philips. com/ pressmedia/ releases/990802. html(date of treatment - August 16, 2000).

As any historian will tell you, it is easier to predict the future if you remember the past well. One method that helps us better understand the nature and pace of change is the change chart; compiling it involves analyzing the evolution of design or products in general, or products of a particular company. Such diagrams help to see the speed of change and can serve as a basis for further development and improvement. They can be made very detailed and include photographs, details of performance and features, prices, sales data, etc. Change charts allow the designer to see the pace and nature of stylistic and technological changes, suggest whether it is time for a design change, indicate the presence of free niches in the market.

Since the 1960s there have been more than 50 trend forecasting agencies in the UK; they are engaged in predicting future changes in fashion in the field of color, style and form. At first, the services of these agencies were used exclusively by clothing manufacturers, but now among their clients you can find both sellers and manufacturers such as Ford. Forecasters make money doing what they say designers should be doing and which designers simply don't have time for. Agencies study cultural and social trends, the market, events in the world of fashion, media and music, and all the data obtained is presented in the form of so-called emotional maps.

A matter of taste

Several years ago, one of us, the authors of this book, was involved in a discussion with the managing director of a ceramic tableware company (the conversation was broadcast live on the radio). The controversy unfolded over the apparent reluctance of his industry to seriously consider using a variety of modern designs. In defense of his preference for century-old design, the managing director said, "At the end of the day, design is a matter of taste." The company in question was recently placed in receivership.

To some extent, the director was right. Historically, design in the UK has seen its mission as improving the taste of the mass market, with the Design Council's key mission ( design Council) was to set standards for good design. But the ardent desire to cultivate the middle class ran counter to the interests of the industrialists and their supporters. In 1951, the British Treasury announced in an internal report that it saw no future in good design and consequently recommended that the Design Council be abolished. The report stated: “It turns out that the worse the design of an object, the better it sells in the foreign market. It is obvious that china dogs are especially popular abroad.”

If modernism saw its goal in smashing to smithereens a porcelain dog and everything that stood behind it, then postmodernism prefers to see more dogs, and a variety of them, and preferably plastic made in China. Globalization, diversity and consumer choice have supplanted the questionable tenets of good taste, and the Design Council has long since abandoned its role as tastemaker. As discussed in Chapter 1, taste is the system of discrimination and individualization that literally makes us who we are by shaping our identity. Design is no longer about trying to impose modernist tastes on the mass market. Today, design is all about understanding the tastes of individual consumer groups, giving products forms and feel that express the meaning behind those tastes. Form is no longer determined by function, form is determined by value.

Mirja Kalviainen from the Design Academy of Kuopio ( Kuopio Academy of design), Finland, believes that an understanding of consumer taste should be embedded in the design process: “The element of taste in the designed objects should not be based on the preferences of the designer himself. Reflectivity, the ability to question one's own concept of taste, is at the heart of design processes that take the taste of the consumer into account." Kalviainen offers three lines of research to help designers understand consumer tastes.

objective frames. This refers to the demographic characteristics of the consumer group, the context of use and the history of the product in this context.

Creation of meanings. Here interest is focused on the sphere of symbolic meaning, from the position of which
the life story of consumers and how, in the process of consumption, a product acquires its own meaning.

Interaction system. The designer explores the social world in which the consumer lives, including social codes and rituals, rules of interaction and key sources of influence.

To summarize Kalviainen's reasoning in a nutshell, in order to achieve a meaningful understanding of consumer tastes, a designer must conduct an empirical study of the world in which these consumers live. And it is necessary to approach this way of knowing from the position of the social sciences (which try to explain the creation of meaning through consumption), backing it up with reflective introspection on the part of the designer himself. Some consulting firms already specialize in this kind of research. So, in the US, the company Image Engineering has developed a qualitative research method that is said to elicit consumer emotional responses to brand visuals and product design, thus charting the creation of meaning 17 . The study of consumer taste is of great importance for design, which purposefully seeks to emotionally affect the consumer. Taste is an element of the social-humanitarian function of any product or service, and according to McDonagh-Phillp and Lebbon, “humanitarian functionality cannot be applied to a product like gloss. It must be intrinsic to the design concept. And it will only increase the value of the product if it is culturally and emotionally close to the target audience.” Understanding taste and emotional contact with the material world is a job for an anthropologist.

Anthropology - active contact with the context

At Palo Alto, California's high-tech hub, anthropology jobs almost outnumber those of programmers. In February 1999, an editorial in the newspaper's financial section USA Today published under the title Hot Corporate Assets: An Anthropology Degree ( Hot asset in corporate: anthropology degrees). The article stated: “No amount of research can tell engineers what women really want from a razor. Therefore, marketing consultants Hauser Design They send anthropologists into bathrooms to watch women shave their legs.” Anthropology is very cool.

Indiana Jones was probably the first anthropologist to demonstrate how cool it is to be an anthropologist. Garrison Ford's character was an archaeologist who studied artifacts to understand people and their cultural systems. Archeology is the branch of knowledge within anthropology concerned with the study of historical cultures. Another branch of knowledge - applied anthropology - studies cultural systems and human behavior in relation to real world problems, although Indiana Jones probably did just that, trying to outwit the Nazis.

Ethnography, based on the methods, techniques and theory of anthropology and other social sciences such as psychology, sociology and communication theory, is called "a methodology that is used to present the perspective of everyday life." Judy Tso is an anthropologist whose consulting firm Aha Solutions Unlimited (www.ahasolutions.org) applies ethnographic methods to product development issues, offers this explanation:

Once upon a time, ethnography was the preserve of those intrepid anthropologists who spent years doing fieldwork at the end of the world. Conducting field research required the anthropologist to spend a long time among the people he studied and carefully observe them. It is a specific approach to qualitative research that can take the form of an oral narrative or literary work. The anthropologist observed local life, participated in it, and after two or three years of study collected his observations, essays and stories in one document, which was called "ethnography".

If you want to know something about water, never ask a fish about it. Traditional market research methodology relies on structured research methods. One of the main problems with this approach is the following: fundamental needs, aspirations, habits and values ​​are so deeply rooted in the culture of a particular group of consumers that people can no longer find an adequate verbal expression for them or explain their reason. If we set ourselves the goal of understanding the context of life, then perhaps only observing the behavior and interaction of people and then analyzing what we see can help us in this. By studying the life of fish, we can actually learn a lot about water. Or photocopiers.

One of the first high-tech ethnographic studies was carried out in 1979 by anthropologist Lucy Sachman, who worked for the company's Research Center Xerox in Palo Alto Palo Alto Research center, PARC). Her video of office workers struggling with copying jobs on the machine Xerox, helped the design team realize that ease of use is far more important than having a lot of extra features. As a result of the design refinement, a large green button appeared on the photocopier, by clicking on which you get one very ordinary copy of the document. This button is still present on any, even on the most multifunctional photocopier Xerox. Sachman's work was a breakthrough in product development and opened the way for anthropologists in almost every high-tech company.

Not so long ago the company Kodak conducted an ethnographic study as part of the Global Consumer Experience program ( Global user experience, GLUE) in order to develop product design and user interface for Kodak markets in Japan, China and India. The study combined elements of ethnography, product and user interface prototyping, and design validation using focus groups in all three countries. Detailed report published in design management Journal, illustrates how ethnography can directly contribute to the product design process.

While Kodak quite obviously engaged in the development of consumer products, created taking into account the context of their use, Intel, at first glance, is just a supplier of high-tech components. However, on Intel there is also a team of anthropologists who are exploring a range of different contexts of use in which a device with Intel inside. According to Genevieve Bell, who is a member of this team and works for Intel since 1998, ethnography “is based on the idea, the essence of which can be expressed briefly: you best absorb the culture, being in it and being a part of it. One of my old teachers called it deep diving. You have to actually be there, communicate with people, take part in their daily life.” Intel uses deep diving to identify new uses and new users of computing technology, thereby expanding the market for its microprocessors (more on this in Module 4.3).

To inject their microprocessors into even more digital products, the company Intel decided to see what was outside. For one of the latest studies Intel sent her anthropologists shopping. Ultimately, it was required to formulate terms of reference for web designers to create e-commerce sites and suggest Intel what technologies will need to be developed in the future.

Genevieve Bell and her collaborators used surveys of shoppers, e-commerce enthusiasts, online merchants, and brick-and-mortar retailers as their research method. The actions taken also revealed the openness of the US market to new shopping experiences.

The researchers joined a group of women from Seattle and filmed one day of their shopping trips. The video showed the importance of the tactile, social, and playful aspects of the shopping experience, which helped to get to the heart of the problem facing e-commerce: “None of this happens on the web. All you can do is look at the photo of the item and find out its price. While working on design e-commerce and m-commerce [ m-commerce - a kind of commerce carried out using a mobile phone; very popular in Japan] we need to understand the expectations people have about the buying process.”

As a result, a model of four ecological niches of the buying process was created (the model is presented below). The buying process as a service is like buying gas or renewing insurance. Consumption is associated with self-indulgence. Supply refers to household and family life. A pilgrimage is a process of going shopping in order to communicate and take part in some events. Each model imposes its own limitations on the design, but also provides new opportunities. The researchers also noticed the national characteristics of shopping trips. So, in the US, buying food is related to the “supply” level, while in Italy it is more of a “pilgrimage”. The identification and understanding of the designated ecological niches has helped develop suitable e-commerce models.

Some of the external research Intel led to much more concrete results. One ethnographer visiting a salmon fishery in Alaska noticed that the operator who collected the day's catch from the fishermen taped his laptop to the outside wall because that was the best place to enter data. A follow-up study called fish and chips(from English - “fried fish and chips”) led to the development by the company Intel microprocessors capable of operating even at sub-zero temperatures.

Ethnography is called the process of creating a map of everyday life. Along with qualitative research methods, scientists use participant observation, interviews, reporting and, of course, deep immersion. Another method, behavioral flow chronicling, involves observing or filming people's behavior, which is particularly suitable for studying human interactions in the workplace. Next, the researchers study the videotape and formulate questions or hypotheses regarding the characteristics of the activity, or use the technique of forced recall when the subject comments on what is happening in the frame. Then, finally, categorization is carried out and an index of activities on the tape is compiled. Ethnographic interviews can be conducted using a range of techniques and techniques, from travel surveys, in which the research subject is asked to take the researcher on a tour of their workplace or home, to personal experience surveys, the purpose of which is to examine specific examples of experiences. Conducting such research is a process consisting of a repeatedly repeated cycle of observation, recording and analysis, which results in a huge amount of written notes, video materials, audio recordings and entire collections of artifacts; the process is boundless, fraught with a lot of discoveries and considering the object from two sides - from inside and outside. In essence, "ethnography is based on a philosophical position that recognizes that people themselves know the answers to all questions and better than others understand their lives, their problems and the circumstances in which they live and work."

Conducting ethnographic research to develop a new product or brand has become serious business. California consulting firm Cheskin (www.cheskin.com), a consumer research firm, has developed specific ethnographic methods for its clients. Applied research aims to study consumer behavior in order to obtain results that can be used to take specific actions. Moreover, the emphasis is on the study of the life context, which is necessary to identify the understanding of the consumer. An example of this approach is the development of a new form of dealer activity for Mitsubishi, based on an ethnographic study of car buyers, as well as an analysis of the lifestyles of teenagers for the company Pepsi. With help Digital Ethno™ company Cheskin unites ethnography and the Internet (Fig. 4.7).

While traditionally ethnographers have been physically immersed in certain situations and cultural formations, digital ethnographers are instead using wired and wireless technologies and expanding the scope of classical ethnographic methods beyond geographic and temporal boundaries... Consumers can receive powerful tools and technologies in order to observe behind their own worlds and capture their features, and then share these impressions with others through the Internet and other digital technologies 31 .

Meanwhile in brand New Corporation developed a project called Getting Started Closer™ , which uses what the company calls photographic ethnography; its purpose is “to give participants the opportunity to explore their own lives and behaviors through the use of a camera. It allows you to penetrate deeper into the motives of behavior, attitudes and intentions of the participants and fix them. Like qualitative research, this method is also applicable to a small number of participants, and in structure and internal sensations resembles a focus group. But that's where the similarity ends."

Evidence of the great value of ethnographic research comes from specialist consultants and corporate advisory groups.

When in 1995 the company Canon produced the first color printers for home use, sales were far from impressive. The company hired GVO, a Palo Alto consulting firm, to find out exactly what families print and what prints they exchange. Conducted GVO study of refrigerator doors and bedroom walls led to the development Canon Creative - software that comes with your printer to print posters, T-shirts, and greeting cards.

Kimberly- Clark conducted an ethnographic study on potty training in children and identified, through interviewed parents, questions, concerns and concerns that would not be detected using traditional methods (eg focus groups). As a result, the company has developed Huggies pull- ups - training disposable panties that can be used after diapers, which allowed the company to increase its share of the corresponding market to $ 400 million.

Research conducted in China by the company Motorola, helped to discover that businessmen who were in rural areas where there was no telephone connection came up with an ingenious system for exchanging coded messages using pagers. As a result, the company developed Motorola two-way pager specifically for the Chinese market.

Ethnography is serious, cool, and a very lucrative branch of design consulting. Of course, an objective assessment of the effectiveness of ethnographic methods in the process of developing new products is a matter for the future. Much of the available literature, however meager as it may be, is devoted to case studies, journalistic reporting, and reports written by the ethnographic consultants themselves. Although, no doubt, Morrow's review of the literature on the application of anthropology to product development is a very useful source of information. Despite the paucity of existing documented examples in this area, it is possible to draw some conclusions and identify the benefits that anthropological research can bring to designers.

Design is designed to meet the needs of users, not designers. Marietta Baba, Head of Anthropology at Wayne University ( Wayne State University) in Michigan, says, "It used to be like this a long time ago: a bunch of middle-aged white men sat and everyone said, 'This is what I like, and this is what my wife likes, so let's do it' 37 . Relying on ethnography encourages the designer to proceed from the life context, needs and preferences of users.

Research may reveal an unexpected group of users or use cases. Technologies often have different applications and contexts of use, which is only revealed through ethnographic research methods (as happened in the case of two-way pagers in China described above). This leads to an expansion of markets and an increase in the number of product options.

Emphasis on meaning and identity. Ethnography deals with the cultural meaning of objects, rituals, and other activities, as well as the social identities associated with them. In the age of consumer culture, when products become a means of expressing meaning and individual identity, it is through this approach that cultural experience becomes the true basis of the design process.

The last of these advantages is decisive. According to the cultural historian W. Bernard Carlson, “A successful product is much more than just a set of technical solutions. It is also a complex of cultural solutions. Unlike inventions, products succeed when they reflect an understanding of the values, established customs, and economics of a given culture.”

Transition to the study of design impressions

In our experience, consumers are more likely to tell you they want bigger buttons, fewer features, and a better price. But these are relatively superficial needs. Digging deeper, it's hard for consumers to articulate or even imagine what products they can't live without for the next few years.

Robert Logan is the head of user interface design at the company. Thomson Consumer Electronics. The company has always considered its main task to be more consumer-oriented and to develop new products that the consumer needs, which would contribute to an unforgettable experience. To achieve the goal in Thomson developed a new method and organizational focus of the company called "new research and design" ( new R& D) (from English. research and design- a counterweight research and development- Research and development).

Company Thomson relied on the experience of companies such as Apple Computer and Xerox that take a similar approach to experience-driven design. According to “new research and design”, three groups of specialists work together to develop products, as shown in Figure 4.8. The "artists" group brought together industrial and graphic designers, artists, photographers and contemporary media designers. Ergonomics specialists, marketers, psychologists and anthropologists are classified as "humanists". "Technologists" are mechanical engineers, engineers CAD and computer scientists.

Although the members of each group have their own specific research and design responsibilities, they are actively involved in all types of research, which allows each element of the process to be seen from different perspectives. According to Logan, "The challenges that researchers face are to define today's consumer space, identify current trends, and provide a vision for future opportunities." Company approach Thomson, which combines subjective, non-factual types of research on the one hand, and highly objective methods on the other, is a combination of approximation and accuracy.

If the impression really is born at the intersection of art, technology and the humanities, then Thomson has chosen the most appropriate approach. In the previous chapter, we explored the idea of ​​technology designers metamizing, that is, creating designs that go beyond products and address the most meaningful consumer experiences. This is a kind of variation on Pine and Gilmour's idea of ​​reviving a thing, which we mentioned in the chapter. Thomson is just one example of how R&D processes can be organized to achieve the ultimate goal of creating an experience.

This reflects a general trend in design management in the 1990s and early 21st century to create more efficient research methods that aim not only to individualize products and achieve competitive advantage, but also to enhance the consumer experience.

As the examples in this chapter show, the consumer electronics and software sectors have been pioneers in many ways. They have had to go from being consumer-driven, early adopters, for whom technology and innovation are already a value, to a more mature stage, when the company is looking to a more diverse market, in which technology as such no longer means much, but a key role. play convenience, reliability and a positive impression. This shift is described in the writings of Donald Norman, a psychologist turned design. His book The Design of Everyday Things The design of everyday things), published in 1988, is a seminal essay on usability and ease of use. The book makes a compelling case that designers and manufacturers need to start designing and building things that are simple and easy to use, as well as a set of practical techniques to help achieve this. Using objects such as doors, gas stoves, and telephones as examples, Norman shows the need for "user-centric design," "with an emphasis on producing user-friendly and understandable products."

Ten years later, in The Invisible Computer ( The invisible computer), Norman moved even further and moved from the idea of ​​usability and design to a broader concept - the development of products focused on people. The author defines this concept as a process that unites many disciplines, the goal of which is "to create technology that serves the user when it fits the task", and "it is the task that is difficult, not the means of solving it." Norman defines the user experience as a necessary key element to enable products to meet the needs of today's markets: “When technology reaches its maturity phase, customers begin to expect convenience, high quality, low cost and reliable performance from it. A successful product relies on a solid business case and three pillars: technology, marketing, and user experience.”

Donald Norman sees the user experience as an interdisciplinary activity within the product development process that involves six groups of people. These are:

• specialists in anthropology and sociology involved in field trials;
• designers of behavioral models with knowledge in the field of cognitive science and practical psychology;
• modelers and rapid prototypers* who specialize in programming, engineering and industrial design;
• test users with skills in rapid user testing and preferably knowledge in experimental psychology;
• graphic and industrial designers "who possess a design skill that combines science and rich experience with art and intuition";
• technical writers "whose job should be to show technologists how to do things that don't require a manual."

Donald Norman's user experience is very close to the company's new research and design Thomson. Both approaches place design in an interdisciplinary context that spans specific humanities and technical disciplines. In both cases, the main goal is to enrich the consumer experience. Therefore, we must consider the organizational, disciplinary, and exploratory aspects of design more broadly than before. So far, research and practice in design management has focused on the relationship between design and marketing. For example, many studies have sought to 1) explain how marketing can drive design, and 2) pinpoint the meaning of design for each element of the marketing mix: product, price, distribution, and promotion. What has received little attention in the literature, however, is the interface between design and experience and the ensuing research problems. To draw an analogy with the marketing mix, which consists of four R(from English. product, price, place, promotion), we propose the concept of four With impression complex - context, connection, consumption and completion (from the English. context, connections, consumption, closure) (Table 4.1).

These steps roughly correspond to those of Ree's design impression model, which was described in the previous chapter.

Each of the four stages of an experience - its context, initial emotional connection with the consumer, continued consumption, and completion or rejection - can be explored using a range of different methods. This is necessary in order to understand what the consumer requirements for the experience are, and to do everything possible to ensure that all design elements meet these requirements. Brand, packaging, product, environmental and information design must be harmonized to provide a holistic experience of using a product or service.

Market research and forecasting techniques contribute to a more accurate definition of the context. Taste studies and other visual methods help to clarify the connection of a product with the intended consumer. For example, a design company Ashcraft design developed a method called “interactive consumer audience analysis”. This method involves an interdisciplinary team (consisting of marketers, engineers, salespeople, and designers) examining the entire product experience to see what values ​​it contains can be used to develop a brand image strategy. In terms of studying everyday consumption, focus groups, traditional usability testing, and other methods can be useful. Company TSDesign developed a methodology for online designers called "user experience analysis" that allows you to look at a website from the user's point of view: a team of designers, information architects and business strategists analyzes a website based on its stated commercial goals.

The last two methods discussed in Table 4.1 deserve special attention because they provide designers with significant advantages. While both originated in the design of organizational computer systems, their scope is expanding; they are increasingly being used in interactive media design and (to a lesser extent) in industrial design.

Interview in context

Company Usability Study Group Microsoft (Microsoft Usability Group) uses interviews in context (IC) to determine the needs that new software systems must meet, while Hewlett Packard applies the same method to identify new needs in the PC printer market. Thus, it turns out that IC originally arose in the high-tech industry, but as a research methodology it can be applied in other industries.

IR is a research technique in applied anthropology that is most commonly used to explain the processes, actions, and needs of people in the workplace. The founders of this technique, Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt, give it this definition:

A way to understand exactly who our customers really are and how they work day by day. The design team conducts one-on-one interviews with clients in the client's workplace to find out what exactly matters to their work. The interviewer observes users in the process of work and asks questions about their actions, step by step finding out the motivation of their actions and the strategy of their activity. During the conversation, the interviewer and the user develop a common understanding of what the latter does in his job.

IC has two key characteristics that distinguish it from many traditional user needs identification techniques. First, the researchers conduct field research using the craft apprenticeship model; second, the research is done by designers, not by anthropologists or some other user researcher. Both of these characteristics increase the value of IC as a research tool.

The effectiveness of this method is also ensured by the direct participation of the designers themselves in it: “it is the designers who are faced with the task of understanding the client in order to develop a product design ... We believe that designers absorb information better if they conduct interviews themselves, and then analyze them together with specialists in other fields, and not just getting ready-made results from someone else.”

We will not go into methodological details, as this is beyond the scope of this book, but there are several very useful sources on the issues at hand. IC has evolved into a more holistic approach to software design - contextual design, which is detailed by the developers on their own website ( www.incontextenterprises.com).

Joint design

Collaborative design (SD) originated in the Scandinavian democratic model, which found its expression in the commitment to industrial democracy - the participation of workers and trade union representatives in the management of industry. Since the late 1970s, the issue of introducing new technologies into the workplace has given rise to many projects aimed at giving workers a voice in decisions about technologies and systems that would change their work. One of the first such projects, which paved the way for collaborative design principles, was Utopia ( UTOPIA). Within this program, the researchers worked together with the Scandinavian Union of Graphic Designers ( Nordic Graphic Workers' Union). The purpose of the collaboration was to "develop powerful support tools for graphic designers." Thanks to the Utopia project, some progress has been made in the development of electronic layout systems for newspapers. These systems were built on the skills that graphic designers and printers already possessed and expanded on at the same time.

In the UK, somewhere on the periphery of the trade union movement, there have also been similar initiatives. The most famous of these was the attempt by the Joint Committee of Trade Union Representatives of the company Lucas Aerospace to design and develop a range of socially useful products that could be produced in dilapidated defense factories Lucas Aerospace. However, the Scandinavian culture of collaborative decision-making that led to Utopia stood in stark contrast to the British policy of the 1980s to reduce the power of trade unions. Thatcherism appreciated the benefits of new technologies in terms of the effectiveness of their use as political leverage - to subdue the unions.

It is possible that the imposition of technology gave the right some short-term political advantage. However, 20 years after the bitter fighting in Wapping, when Murdoch ended once and for all any influence of press unions, one can look at these events as part of a broader and more ambiguous position. With few exceptions, British industry tended to underestimate the knowledge and experience of workers and the needs and lifestyles of consumers. The fate of the British automotive industry is a good example of the consequences of not appreciating the quality of the working environment and consumer experience. Poorly organized work and low-quality goods have no future.

Once again, we turn to the American computer and multimedia industries as engines of change that see collaborative design as a way to get closer to the consumer. According to experts Tec- Ed Inc. - a consulting firm that has introduced collaborative design in companies such as Sun Microsystems, Logitech, Cisco Systems and etc . , - joint design looks like this:

A group of people most interested in product design work together to develop product design options based on how the product will be used by consumers at work. Users play a major role in collaborative design meetings. They tell us about their work environment, the tasks they need to complete, and what tools and tools they have at their disposal help them and which ones don't. This active user intervention results in improved product design and shortens the development and testing cycle.

AT Digital Equipment Corporation The designers collaborated with a group of chemists to develop a portable torque feedback machine using a five-step collaborative design process.

1. Building relationships. The selection of the group of users to be addressed was initially done through Internet e-mail announcements, and then meetings were organized to familiarize users with issues and technologies.
2. Interview in context. IC principles and methods were applied to understand the working context of users.
3. Conducting brainstorming. It was carried out among users to determine possible approaches to solving the design.
4. Storyboard. Based on the most promising ideas from brainstorming sessions, users and computer designers created illustrated scenarios based on a day in the life of a user.
5. Iterative design*. The storyboards were used by the engineers as design specifications to create prototypes that were tested by the participating users and then refined. Design thus took the form of a cyclical process.

Based on the above example, it can be argued: “Co-design has shown chemists and computer scientists some new directions in design. This project shows that collaborative design can be used to develop new computer technologies in the same way that it is used for new computer application systems.

Collaborative design offers the design team a range of benefits. First of all, it helps to determine the implicit knowledge of users and, therefore, to discover possible problems in the design area, as well as their solutions, which could elude a working group consisting of (including) users. As a result, the design is more tightly tied to the real requirements of the product and the user context, thereby improving the user experience of this product. And when designing for a particular user group or user environment, SD can give users a sense of value and a sense of ownership of the new design.

Practice Oriented Research

The last method we would like to analyze is not a method, but a set of techniques that facilitate the integration of users' tacit knowledge and creative design approach into a coherent whole of a research process guided by well-defined goals and priorities. Practice-oriented research has contributed to the transition of design activity into the category of those fields of activity in which it is possible to obtain an academic degree 62 . The ongoing methodological debate about practice-oriented research will remain outside the scope of our discussion. We would like to dwell on only some of the issues first raised in these disputes or that arose in the few documented examples of such research in practice.

The relationship between theory and practice in design is tense at best. In the 1960s and 1970s, the design methods movement was seen as an attempt to graft the "rational cricket bat" of method onto the "gentle, intuitive tomato sprout" of practice. As a result of its activities, the movement raised some important questions, but it distanced itself so much from everyday design practice (and the real world of designers) that it remained an isolated academic doctrine. As a result, the theoretical basis of design was largely undermined, vulnerable to anti-intellectualism. There was also this, probably fair, observation: “Very few practicing designers feel that their knowledge of design theory has any bearing on what they do.”

At present, practice-oriented research can be seen as a series of heterogeneous approaches, each of which, in its own way, seeks to combine practice with theory. According to one approach, practice is considered a kind of research, since the product of the designer's work embodies information, and therefore is actually the result of research, and only minimal effort is needed to formulate its theoretical conclusions. Perhaps this model is more based on research in the field of fine arts. Other models are now emerging ubiquitously that seek to draw theoretical knowledge on design from design practice, which, in turn, is a manifestation of theory. This latest model is a manifestation of the recent desire of designers to assert their own hidden creative methodologies, making them part of the overall process of academic research and at the same time recognizing the need to maintain links with other disciplines and methodologies. Some of the adherents of this model refer to the historical contribution of craftsmanship and design practice to the accumulation of knowledge and, accordingly, to the theory created on the basis of this knowledge. Kevin McCullough argues that the goal of design should be to merge theory and practice - design-practice: "practice based on theory and theory derived from practice."

Today, the designated concept is much more promising than during the days of the design methods movement. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, compared to the 1970s, design has become much more complex, it can no longer be imagined without appropriate research and theoretical development. If then design was nothing more than a handicraft industry, today it can be compared with the international hotel business - global scale, the use of modern technologies, a close relationship with various functional divisions of the company. The methods described in this chapter are not theoretical constructions taken from thin air, but the result of the practical work of designers and design groups that we have observed at work in London, Seoul, Palo Alto and other places. Second, today design departments at universities and art colleges have a strong financial incentive to continue looking for new ways to combine theory with practice.

Some design researchers argue that design should become a more scientific activity, while emphasizing that this approach is in no way inconsistent with the creative nature of design (module 4.4). Ken Friedman and Anti Aynamo are the most vocal proponents of this approach.

Science and scientific methods do not necessarily lead to positivism. Modern science and scientific methods involve various kinds of links between theory and practice, and not just a positivist approach. But what really matters is our desire to consciously master the knowledge of design, to understand what a thing is and how it works based on fundamental principles. The main difference between design as a science and design as an art is that design as a science does not begin with visual or other sensations, but with the definition of the conditions of the problem. Visual, tactile and other sensations, intonations, feelings and shades appear at the stage of solution, already when, based on the conditions of the task assigned to the designer, the main requirements for its solution are determined. Thus, the scientific approach to design does not in the least contradict its artistic aspect 66 .

Module 4.4. DIY research

An example of a practice-oriented study focused on user experience is one of the research projects at the University of Sheffield-Hallam. In his research into the design of a prosthetic hand, industrial designer Graham Whiteley applied creative design approaches and practical techniques to solve problems that were previously thought to be the exclusive domain of scientists and engineers.

As a result, physical models of the naturally articulated skeleton of the hand and the entire arm up to the shoulder were obtained, completely repeating the anatomy (bones and joints) of the human arm in terms of quality and functionality. It was also possible to attach tendon extensions to the models, forcing the actuator muscles to communicate the driving force to the automatic hand. This example is a simple and illustrative demonstration of the use of practice-oriented research design in an interdisciplinary context. Evidence of this is the ease with which the information obtained in the process of research and embedded in the created models is quickly and fully read by a wide variety of specialists and user groups who were able to study and evaluate these models without any auxiliary texts and materials. Whiteley and his supervisor Chris Rast have published their reflections on the development of design research based on creative practice, and, importantly, they are involved in scientific discussions in two areas: design and design of medical devices. The project itself demonstrated the importance of design practice as a means of testing usability and as a field in which the theoretical principles of a number of different disciplines find their expression and integrate into a single whole.

The emergence of the concept of practice-oriented design has led to a useful and long overdue reassessment of the relationship of design to theory, science, and methodology in a scientific, academic context. The diverse nature of design types means that sometimes artistic practice quite naturally leads research, as in the case of applied art. And yet practical design activity must be based on social sciences and culture - this is the main priority of modern industrial design. Only in this way will we achieve what we want: design will be driven by real needs and meaningful experiences.

Research impression

The development of design in the 21st century is entirely driven by research, which should be based on an understanding of culture and technology that combines art, science and the humanities. This state of affairs imposes new demands on designers and makes it necessary to take on new obligations. Perhaps one of the main requirements is to strike a balance between the need to conduct the most thorough preliminary research and the time pressure caused by competition in the development of new products. We therefore conclude this chapter with a ranking of the top five tips for time-starved designers (Table 4.2).

Our top five tips for doing research in a hurry are based on the experiences of designers themselves. Perhaps the design should be more scientifically based, and quite likely based on scientific knowledge and methods. However, according to Donald Norman, “Applied science does not need the precision of traditional scientific methods. In industry, an approximately correct answer is sufficient. Speed ​​is more important than accuracy."

Good design is the embodiment of knowledge and understanding, while bad design is the recognition of one's own ignorance. In this chapter, we tried to prove: 1) the design must necessarily be based on research; 2) only such an approach will guarantee that the subject environment will give users a maximum of pleasant impressions and enrich their life experience. In particular, we have shown how crucial techniques drawn from market research, ethnography, and other fields are to design success or failure. We saw that the user can be not only a source of marketing information, but also a necessary participant in the design development process. We also found that practical design can be the core of a well-defined research agenda that expands our knowledge and helps to more effectively integrate the theory and practice of artistic design.