Research Questions

At this point in thesis, everyone should have a good idea of the audience for whom they plan to design a product as their capstone experience at Parsons. I have already spoken with many students, either in individual meetings or group discussions. In general, there is a lot of good ideation going on, and a few people already have articulated a direction that appears likely to bear fruit. It is necessary that everyone in thesis will have a strong idea for their capstone projects very soon (one or two weeks from now).  If you have not spoken with me about your project, please sign up for a meeting by filling in your name and the time you would like to meet on this spreadsheet. you can sign up for as many slots as you would like depending upon how much time you would like to spend discussing your project. 

Here's an example of one project idea that I was especially intrigued by during last week's group meetings in 301: Gon is thinking about the predicament of people who have survived a car crash, and whose driving style has been changed by that experience. For example, she suggested that someone who has suffered whiplash might tend to drive with their head back against the headrest, because that would reduce the danger of being re-injured. But this kind of stiff-necked. immobilized driving posture could reduce one's cone of vision to the right and left, thereby making it harder to see and react to hazards like cars in adjacent lanes in highway driving. I can imagine a lot of different products coming out of this insight, and because so many people are hurt in car accidents each year (around the world), there is probably a big market out there. To make this product, Gon will have to user her powers of EMPATHY to shift her own point-of-view (temporarily) to that of a typical members of her audience. To do this, she will have to do massive amounts of design research. She will need to know (for example):

• 1. how many people are injured (but survive) car accidents in the US? In other places?
• 2. how many of them experience from whiplash?
• 3. what treatments are currently available to help them deal with the traumatic effects of whiplash?
• 4. do these people perceive that their posture while in the driver's seat changed as a result of their injury?
• 5. Is there any evidence that people who are in an accidents are more likely to get into another one? 
• 6. Are there any existing products specifically intended to help traumatized drivers get back to driving?

etc.

etc.

Everyone should be putting together lists of crucial questions like these. The next design research assignment will entail producing such a list of preliminary research questions that you need to know the answers to before proceeding to design your product. This will be due in two weeks from tomorrow, ion Nov. 15. You can choose either to post your list of questions to the blog, or you can upload it to Dropbox, in the folder labeled, Audience Research Questions. Your list can be illustrated with images, or any other media that helps explain your thinking. 

Don't forget to sign up to speak with me. if you don't sign up, I will come and find you, because it is important to me that every student in thesis be making good progress. This is a requirement, and your grade will reflect your efforts to set up enough meetings with me to ensure that you are carrying out adequate design research.