Design Droplets contributor Anna Lorenzetto recently conducted an interview with US based design researcher JooYoung Oh. JooYoung has extensive experience conducting design research for companies such as Dell, Whirlpool and Samsung.
In the following two part interview and accompanying case study JooYoung speaks about the various aspects of Design Research including data analysis and designing tools to support the process. Other discussion points include co-design and involving stakeholders in the research process. I hope you enjoy this interview and please take the time to share your thoughts on it in the comments. ~ Raph Goldsworthy, Editor.
Part One | Part Two (Now reading) | Part 3 – How to do Design Research
People are naturally judging or, discerning. What checks and balances do you have in place in your process to ensure that your influence does not affect the outcomes of the research?
At the beginning of a project the research team does a brain dump and lists their assumptions and then they go out into the field; this either verifies or refutes the assumptions made by the research team.
We also go through a rigorous data analysis once we enter all the data from interviews.
Once you have gathered information, you have all these data points from observing people; things such as their current experience, ideal solutions. Our brains cannot process all this stuff; it has to be organized, in order to see the patterns begin to emerge. We begin with our initial assumptions and then we confirm or refute these assumptions with the use of the gathered data.
The first set of analysis is to visualize the data. You have to create a visual representation of the data and by doing this you will begin to identify the patterns in the data. You check your hypothesis by going back to transcripts to stay objective.
How do you know when you have analyzed the raw data enough?
The process resembles lateral thinking by Edward De Bono. It’s a very intuitive and also a very collaborative process. First, we visualize the data so that everyone on the research team can intuitively understand the information, so that it is not one researcher’s ‘secret code’. By visualizing data, we will make sure that we immerse ourselves in the all data points including the photos, videos, quotes and artifacts from the interview so that we can debate our hypothesis. It often looks like a homicide investigation meeting with all the visuals.
The second step of analysis after visualization is to identify patterns. When the patterns arise you then ask “What does this mean?” And these usually become insight themes. We usually have many insight themes at the end of these from a week to a month’s analysis session. And at the third step, we ask ourselves what framework will best represent all the insights that we have found through sketching up diagrams.
These steps ensure that the research insights are an unbiased, pure and honest representation of the experts – the people.
I really like reading what Elisabeth B. N Sanders says when she discusses participatory design research methods and how people (users/clients) become partners (with designers/researchers) through the use of tools in a process of co-creation. How do you approach the design of tools to support the research process?
I love this topic.
The objective of tool creation is to enable people to express their current and ideal experiences and imagine the ideal solutions. When you interview a participant and try to get to their pain points and their frustrations, it’s not easy to get them to open up to a complete stranger. There are many ways of breaking the ice and I found using stimuli such as words and images help people to open up and recall their memories. When you use stimuli in the interview process it also helps the interview becomes less about the researcher and more about the participants and their stories. Another big advantage of using stimuli is that you gather visual data points as well as verbal. When you are sharing the insights, these visual stimuli can support your points.
There are stimuli for experience that assist people explain their emotions and experiences, and there are stimuli to help people explain their ideal SOLUTIONS. Designing stimuli for solutions very much resembles a reverse design process. We consider all the elements that a design team would consider when developing design solutions such as weight, size, proportion, color, material, shape, interaction, icons, the mechanism, information…etc. Once we make a list of all the elements, we find possible solutions for each element. Then, participants will use these multisensory stimuli to build their ideal solutions. The stimuli are often up to 100 things that represent an aspect of [the] solution. We tell the participants that anything is possible and to feel free to explore and pick things that they like, to paint the picture of their ideal solutions.
Do you think participatory design research can ever answer every question? Do you find this frustrating and does it ever concern you that within the process something fundamental may be missed?
No, not at all. Participatory design research can only answer part of your question and it always needs to be accompanied by observation and trend research so that you can have the complete picture.
What is the typical or optimum size of a sample?
This depends on the market, its segment, and the constraints of budget. I’d say if you have a few segments try to talk to at least 5 people per segment for analysis. I’ve done 5 to 100 sample qualitative research, yet prefer about 15-20 for its manageability. I’d say even if you only have 5 in the sample, it is better than nothing.
What do you find personally compelling about design research? What scope beyond traditional product and service outcomes, can you see where participatory design research can make a contribution?
I sometimes feel like I am a forensic scientist investigating a case. I love going through people’s houses and see what they have in their refrigerators. It is fascinating that everybody has an interesting story and I get to take a good peek at it.
Design research can be used anywhere that requires an understanding of people’s dreams and desires. It does not have to be for money making organizations it can be used within NPOs; it could go back to where it comes from, psychology and psychoanalysis. Another thing I really like to do, is use it in trends forecasting and analysis.
I’ve been working with a nonprofit political activist group called Not An Alternative. One of the projects we’ve done together includes a building occupation event in 2008 for a homeless group. You can see the case study on the Not An Alternative website. I’ve also participated in a lecture series organized by NAA in the fall of 2009; Part of Symbols, Branding and Persuasion: an Art and Politics Presentation Series. I gave a lecture and led a workshop for political activists, about techniques used to brand the ideal experience.
How do you expect design research and design as practices to evolve in the future? What type of future market place would you like to see?
I think that the tools design researchers develop and use can easily be used by anybody doing interviews; teachers trying to open up troubled kids, and even in psycho therapy sessions. I can see the tools used to predict the future trend. I sometimes day dream about traveling around the world interviewing designers and thinkers using participatory tools to gather their vision of the future. How [much] fun would this be?
I’d also love to see more collaboration between design researchers, designers and political activists for social change. Since we had the Art and Politics presentation at the Change You Want to See Gallery, the event organizers and I have been talking about ways to make the collaboration happen. We are brainstorming ideas around workshops that can bring activists and design researchers together.
Jooyoung Oh, thank you for your time today and all the best from Design Droplets.
If you enjoyed this interview, please take the time to share your thoughts and feedback in the comments. Next week in Part 3 of this interview Jooyoung Oh will illustrate typical scenes of the design research process.
