Friday 22 July 2011

Design Research - lets not freak out.

One of the first tasks this semester, in the radio project, will be research. Don't get  worried about the "r" word, it's only as difficult as you make it. As usual, breaking a problem down will make it easier.

 

First some advice. If you write a research question, you will have half the job done. There are few better ways to waste time than to undertake research without a question. Much of the time, I hear the phrase "… so I started by doing lots of research into…" and then the person loses track. To avoid this, have a research question.

 

We'll set out some research questions in class, but as far as an "approach" is concerned, I can advise starting with a question, spending some time on it, then either answering it, or stating why you could not answer it. If you don't get anywhere in the first hour, then it's time to re-assess your question.

 

A good research question for this project would be: What detailing can be observed in the speaker grilles of contemporary radio designs?

 

In the context of Studio 2, this question would be best answered with images, and a very small text summary.

 

As we have learned from Science, an answer will generally lead to more questions - and it only gets bigger. They thought that they had it licked when the atom was discovered. Look what that lead to!

 

(cue attached image of large hadron collider, the worlds largest machine) (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627175348.htm) (No, it's not the air conditioner on the death-star.)

 

Keep these tips in mind, because we're going to do research.

 

Robbie


--
Dr Robbie Napper
Lecturer
Industrial Design
Monash University



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