Relevant and Rigorous: Human-Centered Research and Design Education
| Autor: | Bruce Hanington |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
Process (engineering)
business.industry Context (language use) Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Argument Design education Design process Engineering ethics Relevance (information retrieval) Sociology Software engineering business Anecdotal evidence Primary research |
| Zdroj: | Design Issues. 26:18-26 |
| ISSN: | 1531-4790 0747-9360 |
| DOI: | 10.1162/desi_a_00026 |
| Popis: | Introduction The process of human-centered research and design rightfully demands the active consultation of people (users). However, the approach to research and the selection of methods employed in this process are a matter of frequent debate, particularly when placed in an interdisciplinary context. Bartneck, for example, presents a discussion of the evident conflict between designers and scientists within the human-computer interaction (HCI) community.1 Designers often must answer to critics well versed in research methods, and this dialogue frequently centers on issues of rigor and relevance. If the argument were simplified into extremes, two propositions would exist. Designers could ignore the critique of the established scientific (and social scientific) disciplines, highlighting a creative process that resonates with a strictly qualitative approach, small sample sizes, and anecdotal evidence, bolstered by an argument of relevance in connecting real-world research to real, human situations. At the other extreme, the design community could prescriptively follow the strategies and methods of science and the social sciences, recognizing the need for rigor in research, and understanding the necessity of employing established, replicable protocols, particularly when attempting to generalize outcomes or target design applications to large, diverse audiences. However, holding such a polarized view of the world does little to advance the status of human-centered research and design. A more useful model is to understand all realms of the qualitative, ethnographic and quantitative experimental paradigms, and to seek balance in employing methodologies appropriate to the context and timing of research questions in the human-centered design process. This paper will present an argument for equipping designers with such a balanced view of research for human-centered designing. The argument is grounded in several years of teaching project-based courses and studios in human-centered research and design, as well as consulting. The term “human-centered research and design” is used here to indicate an integrated process that includes active consultation with people (users) through various means of primary research during all phases of design development. Expertise is based |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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