WEEK-6

During week six we continued learning about how to design research. In the introductory part of the unit, I learned about research approaches, data types, data sources, and ethics. I got a better understanding of what research is all about; ‘Research is the systematic collection and interpretation of information with a clear purpose to find things out.' I also learned about some of the ethical issues which affect research. The most important according to me was about the privacy of the participants. Interviews should be held in a separate room but not in the office. It is wrong for a researcher to lie to participants to get information from them. When doing research, it is advisable for the researcher to get an organizational and individual consent from the participant. Also, I learned about co-creation of insights which is a highly involved research, and the customers create ideas and insights with the design team. This was a new concept to learn in week 6.

WEEK-5

Week five was a great week for me as a student. I remembered that research work and design is part of what every student must go through before they graduate. Important tools used in research design are journey mapping, value chain and value network and mind mapping. The tutor defined journey mapping as a geographical representation of the experience which customers have when they interact with products and services. A value chain is a sequence of activities within an organization which adds value to the product being offered to the customer. I learned that mind mapping is an important concept which involves looking for pattern in substantial data amounts. As a researcher, I realized that there is a difference between academic research and design-led research.  Academic research is driven by theories while the design-led research is very practical. Moreover, I learned about qualitative and quantitative research approaches, the types of data and common sources of research data.

WEEK-4

During the fourth week, I understood that everything has its problems and challenges. However, I remembered that my mother used to tell me that problems are always gravitating towards their solutions. Module 4 was about design problems. Before a problem is solved, it has to be found. I learned that design thinking is a problem finding approach because it involves understanding the problem before finding the solution. I also learned about brainstorming, visualization and spotting the obvious design thinking tool. Visualization is the process of using imagery to envision possibilities and bring them to the real life. Spotting the obvious is being able to identify a problem without having to research it.