REFLECTION MODULE | BY DOUNIA BOURJILA
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH In designprojects we do within this faculty, research on a subject is often done separately, in a quantitative way with different variables on a group of people. However the results are not always reliable because they are either not tested on many people, and done in a short amount of time. Research can also be done trough design which I think is the most valuable for design. My motivation for chosing this module is to see how I can get better results and conclusions that matter for defining a strong basis for my designs, by means of learning new research methods. Starting with analyzing a long list of data of different people about good sleep was the first step where I tried to find methods clear lines in an overload of information. The method of creating an affinitydiagram can be clarifying in terms of selecting information, grouping them and seeing links, but on the other hand I think by making conclusions, some of the information can also be placed in the wrong category, which can influence the result. My teammate and I (Patrick Leijte) managed to set up a model which shows a link between our conclusions that we validated with interviews. I think setting up the interview was a very valuable learning experience for me. We approached it in a systematic way by setting up a model: this way it became clear to us which question could lead to which answer, and which actual answers could lead to which conclusions. This also gave us a leading thread in how to ask the questions and which ones first. With this well filtered result we were able to see what link was still missing in our model. However I’m not sure if this method of making an affinity diagram is a good method to use in my projects and maybe also my research project coming semester.