Re: [IxDA Discuss] Semantics: Design Research and User Research
Design Research is research that informs the design of a product/products that may or may not involve talking to users. User Research is research that involves talking to users. It most often is used to inform the design of a product but might also be used to define an opportunity area before a product has specifically been envisioned. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rob Tannen Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 1:14 PM To: IxDA Discuss Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Semantics: Design Research and User Research I often see (and use) the terms Design Research and User Research interchangeably, although I believe they are overlapping, but different. -Design Research: This is the broader term. It can refer to the study of design itself (meta-research, if you will). It can also refer to research done in the context of design, but that can include research on materials, processes, users, etc. For example, comparing different types of display technologies, from the perspectives of cost, power consumption or legibility are all cases of design research. -User Research: The study of the users of a product or system (or potential users for a new one), that can include ethnography, usability testing, etc to inform the appropriate design of that product. So according to my definitions, User Research is really a type of Design Research, and not all Design Research is User Research. Is there any consensus on this (loaded question)? Best Regards, Rob Tannen, PhD Director of Research direct 215-209-3042 main 215-561-5100 www.bresslergroup.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Semantics: Design Research and User Research
[cross-post, cross reply] :) In my experience in educational research, design research is generally the practice of designing a curriculum or another type of designed intervention and seeing how this new practice or artifact changes the environment and the practices that people engage in. In academic educational research, design research is sometimes frowned upon by both ethnographic oriented researchers and experimental oriented researchers because the ethnographic researchers see the intervention as disrupting the existing nature of the studied environment and experimental researchers have problems with the fact that the design is often iterated during the research process, leading to all sorts of confounds in the findings. Additionally, some design research is focused towards creating a particular product/curriculum/intervention, which is different than designing artifacts to answer more fundamental question about human psychology/sociology/development. This is a point of tension, in that the validity of findings for a particular product can be highly contextual and short lived compared to the answer to more fundamental questions that ideally have applicability across a number of contexts and time spans. Outside of the academic research environment, I see design research to be quite an exciting practice of integrating understanding people and environments with understanding the role of new designs in people's lives. It does seem much more pragmatic in application, which is why in the educational research context, teachers are often quite excited by design research practices. The findings are relatively immediate and actionable, if still methodologically questionable. In my world of definitions, I'm not sure if one category really is bigger than the other with regards to comparing Design Research and User Research. Sort of like saying apples include oranges, but oranges don't include apples. Design research is generally conducted within some sort of applied context. User research may be too, but user research can also include need finding, shadowing, observation, usability testing, etc. That be my 2 cents. ;) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Semantics: Design Research and User Research
On Mar 29, 2008, at 1:13 PM, Rob Tannen wrote: So according to my definitions, User Research is really a type of Design Research, and not all Design Research is User Research. Is there any consensus on this (loaded question)? This is how I've always used the terms, although in academic circles design research can mean research about design. Sigh. User research is a huge part of design research, but there are methods that designers users to do research that have nothing to do with users. Competitive analysis, literature reviews, general environment/ content inquiries, etc. Dan Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Semantics: Design Research and User Research
I often see (and use) the terms Design Research and User Research interchangeably, although I believe they are overlapping, but different. -Design Research: This is the broader term. It can refer to the study of design itself (meta-research, if you will). It can also refer to research done in the context of design, but that can include research on materials, processes, users, etc. For example, comparing different types of display technologies, from the perspectives of cost, power consumption or legibility are all cases of design research. -User Research: The study of the users of a product or system (or potential users for a new one), that can include ethnography, usability testing, etc to inform the appropriate design of that product. So according to my definitions, User Research is really a type of Design Research, and not all Design Research is User Research. Is there any consensus on this (loaded question)? Best Regards, Rob Tannen, PhD Director of Research direct 215-209-3042 main 215-561-5100 www.bresslergroup.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Semantics: Design Research and User Research
Hi Rob, I was wondering when someone would bring this up...but what of those of us that do usability studies and in the next breath tackle questions like What is the meaning of clean air? I find true differences, except in persons actually doing the research, so difficult to define! Thanks for your post! Christine Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
