DESIGN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Assignment 2 (Critical Review)

28/04/2022 - 12/05/2022 (Week 05 - Week 07)
ALICIA TENG YI LING / 0345159 / BDCM
DESIGN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
ASSIGNMENT 2 / Critical Review

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LECTURE

Week 05 / Critical Review

What is a Critical Review?

It is a critical writing where the writer is required to evaluate some aspects of literary text or artwork, research article, argument or interpretation of an issue, text or artwork.

It's purpose is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of an article's ideas and content. Description, analysis and interpretation of the articles should be provided to allow the readers to assess the article's value.

Critical review can increase the reader's understanding of the articles, expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of a text and a mean to break down and study various parts of an article.

Parts of a Critical Review

• Full reference in APA style
• Summary of the article in one paragraph 
• Number your critical review 
• E.g. Critical review #1
• Critique and Evaluation 
• Conclusion (can be longer than a usual conclusion)
• Layout
• Can take up to two to three A4 pages,
• 12pt size font 
• 1.5 spacing

Steps to Study an Article

Structure 

1. Consider the type of text the article is 
• Primary or secondary sources
• Is it original research? Or a comment of an original research
2. Find out the different sections of the article and think about how they fit together
3. Think about are the sections in the article effective or ineffective

Methodology

1. Determine if the research is quantitative or qualitative
2. Observe if the methodology has any flaws or weaknesses
3. Consider how the design of the study address the hypothesis/research problem

Reasons/Evidence

1. Take notes of the sources the author utilised
2. Determine the type of reasoning the author used - whether it is inductive or deductive
3. Recognize the type of evidence that is provided in the article 
• Empirical
• Statistical
• Logical
• Etc.
4. Identify any gaps in the evidence or reasoning

Conclusions

1. Think about if the data supports the conclusion of the article 
2. Consider if there are other possible interpretations 
3. Think about if the conclusions are dependent on a theoretical formulation 
4. Consider what does the content in the article contribute to the field 

Logic

1. Think about what assumptions does the author make in the article 
2. Consider if the author took account for all the data or are there portions left out, and also is there any alternative perspectives that remained unconsidered
3. Find out if there are any logical flaws in the construction of the argument

Effective Critical Review

•  Shows an awareness of the overall idea, purpose, and the intended readers of the text
• Shows that the article was looked at from various perspectives
• Shows that the article was evaluated according to theories, approaches, and frameworks

An evaluation involves analysing the content and concepts of a text, separating the contents into their main components, and then understanding how all of them interrelate, connect, and influence each other.

Week 06 / Quan & Quali

Quantitative Research

Research using countable data (numbers, scales, charts, percentages, demographics, nationality etc.). Useful for collecting and documenting large numbers of information and good to use as evidence for factual claims. Can be research through both primary and secondary research. Most common examples are programme ratings, box office figures, iTunes download etc. 

Though, it is unable to collect more details on people's opinions, thoughts and feelings. Thus, wouldn't know the reason behind the statistics collected.

Qualitative Research 

Would be able to collect different types of information as it studies more on the personal opinions of the respondents and is targeted at a narrower detail of a topic. Useful to get the information needed to understand your target audience and client needs.

Though, the structure might be biased most common examples are film reviews, game reviews, fan-based websites, interviews, discussions, focus groups, responses to campaigns and news etc. 

Both quantitative and qualitative research can be done through both primary and secondary research. It is good to collect both types of research as it'll give a wider field and more types of response. 

Secondary Research

Secondary Research - research by using other researcher's research 

Examples - books, journals, newspapers, film archives, internet forums, CD Rom databases, audio materials etc. 

The negative part of secondary research is that it's hard to always determine if the source taken online is reliable or not.

Primary Research

Primary Research - research designed and done by the researcher him/herself 

Examples - interviews, questionnaire, observational studies, focus groups, participating in internet forums etc. 

All research methods in primary research are self-generated and video, audio and/or photographic records of events can be used as evidence for the research. Primary research gives a reliable and well documented source for information

The Purpose of Research

There are various purpose for conducting a research. Some areas of research include audience research, market research and production research. 

Audience Research

Topics include audience profiling, demographics, consumer behaviour, consumer attitudes and audience awareness. It helps creators to understand and communicate with their target audience.

A good example of primary research method for this field is conducting a questionnaire, the only problem is it is time consuming and not all information gathered can be fully used.

The cons of audience research is the information gathered may not tie in with the original product idea and changes would need to be done according to the research results.

Market Research

Topics include research on one's product's market, competitor analysis and advertising placement. Market research is useful to search for gaps in the market to launch a product.

The possible problem is that the gap may be small, and the product will only appeal to a small percentage of people.

Production Research

Topics are very broad, but it includes researching on contents, viability, media placement, finance, costs, technological resources, personnel, locations etc. The pros of production research is that budgets, equipment lists, personnel contact and location access can be done before production shooting starts. 

The downside is that some filmmaker might not find the value in this as they might want to create something original and use new technologies.

Week 07 / Data Collection Primary & Secondary

Categories in the field of Creative Research Methods

• Arts-based Research 
• Visual Arts
• Performance Arts
• Textile Arts
• Research suing technology
• Social Media
• Apps
• Computer/Video Games
• Mixed Methods Research
• Traditionally Qualitative & Quantitative
• Either Mixed or one method
• Transformative Research Frameworks
• Participatory Research
• Feminist Research
• Decolonizing methodologies
• Activist Research

Traditional market research involves face-to-face interactions or physical instruments, where digital market research involves only interacting in the digital media. Both has its pros and cons.

Primary Research Methods

Examples include interviews, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups and visits to competitors' locations. These can be conducted through face-to-face interactions, telephone or mail communication or online communications.

Questionnaire (Quantitative Research)

A data collection method where each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order.

Interviews (Qualitative Research)

Interviews can be structured or unstructured. Structured interviews are comparable to questionnaire as it also involves asking the same questions in the same order to each interviewee and with multiple choice answers.

Focus Groups (Qualitative Research)

Data is collected through a semi structured group interview process. Focus groups are moderated by a group leader and are usually used to collect data on a specific topic. 

Observational Studies (Qualitative Research)

 A systematic way to collect data by observing people in natural situations or settings. In creative media, it may involve watching video, animation, film, and others.

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INSTRUCTIONS

 

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Assignment 02: Critical Review

Week 5

Fig 1.1 Draft 1 - Messy Notes and important points from my first read of the articles

The Five Articles:

• Article 1
• Asakawa, S., Guerreiro, J., Sato, D., Takagi, H., Ahmetovic, D., Gonzalez, D., Kitani, K. M., & Asakawa, C. (2019). An Independent and Interactive Museum Experience for Blind People. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1145/3315002.3317557
• Article 2
• Vaz, R. Fernandes, P. O., & Veiga, A. C. R. (2018). Designing an Interactive Exhibitor for Assisting Blind and Visually Impaired Visitors in Tactile Exploration of Original Museum Pieces. Pg. 561-570. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.076
• Article 3
• Quero, L. C., Bartolomé, J. I., & Cho, J. (2021). Accessible Visual Artworks for Blind and Visually Impaired People: Comparing a Multimodal Approach with Tactile Graphics.  Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10030297 
• Article 4
• Shaligram, S. (2019). Accessibility in Museums: Where are we and where are we headed. Retrieved from: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/122334
• Article 5
• Pietroni, E., Pagano, A., Biocca, L., & Frassineti, G. (2021). Accessibility, Natural User Interfaces and Interactions in Museums: The IntARSI Project. 567-584. Retrieved From: https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4020034

In this week, we were tasked to find five related journal articles to analyse for this assignment and then download Mendeley. It took a while for me to find satisfactory and academic articles with clear evidence, as my topic is quite specific and niche. Later on, I managed to find five articles that I thought were interesting and would answer to my research objectives and questions. Then, I wrote down basic notes after skimming through them.

Week 6

Fig 2.1 Draft 2 - Refining my thoughts

In this week, I began working on writing an outline and a draft of my critical review. I used a highlighter tool on points that I deemed important to include in my writing. I also jotted down some annotations for quotes that I wanted to use to support my points. Initially, I wrote down a separate critical review of all five journal articles then I consolidated them in one document. I focused on comparing and contrasting the articles by analysing their strengths and weaknesses and the gaps that each article could fill or complement each other when writing my critical review. 

I worked on my critical review by reading articles and noting down important points.

It is currently very stressful reading and analyzing articles in an efficient manner. Though, I have found a lot of relevant information to my research which I am satisfied with.

Week 7

Dr. Hayati’s comments: It is a bonus point that I evaluated all five articles individually as I can compare and contrast the information between them easily. Follow the samples provided for assignment layouts as she accepts them all. Holistically, this assignment is for me to demonstrate that I understood what I have read. Identify gaps in some papers that may be ‘filled’ or complemented by others, be very critical. There could be similarities in their methodology and conclusion but maybe certain weaknesses can be supported by other articles. There is no word count. 

FINAL CRITICAL REVIEW SUBMISSION

Fig 3.1 Final Critical Review

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FEEDBACK

Week 07 (12/05/2022)

• General Feedback
• Don't forget to include your research problems in the paper
• Do not separate the critical review of the five articles, instead the review should be a consolidation of my analysis of all five articles in one singular review. 
• It is suggested to end your review (Conclusion segment) by stating if the journal articles were suitable for your research, or not. 
• Specific Feedback
• It's a bonus point that I evaluated all five articles individually as I can compare and contrast the information between them more easily.
• Follow the samples provided as Dr. Hayati accepts them all.

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REFLECTION

Searching for suitable journal articles was a lengthy process as I wanted to find papers that focused more wholly on fully blind user experiences in museums. A lot of the articles that popped up were referring to partially blind or colour blind people. Though, I am happy with all the papers I found as I believe they agree with the purpose of my research and many of their statements not only back up my points but also help to further my own understanding and research of how to improve blind users experiences in museums. 

The most challenging part of this assignment was once again, writing the critical review. It was not difficult to jot down my thoughts and important points from the article however when it came to structuring and formally writing the assignment, it was a very difficult and stressful experience for me especially because I was also rushing to meet other modules projects deadlines. 

Overall, this assignment was tough for me but I'm glad that I learned how to review articles critically and clearly as it will be a very useful skill in my future assignments and life in general.