DESIGN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY // PROPOSAL 01

 

31.03.2022 - 21.00.2022 / Week 01 - 04
Rebecca Thoo Hui Ying / 0350359
Bachelor of Designs (Hons) in Creative Media 
Design Research Methodology: Proposal 01

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LECTURES

Week 01: 31.03.2022

Research

What?

✧ It is a systematic & creative investigation of materials & sources in order to establish facts and to reach new conclusions. 

✧ Research is the pursuit of knowledge, student research is a self-directed work to explore their issues of interest. 

Why?

✧ It helps to expand understanding/knowledge, establishes valuable connections with faculty & also develop critical thinking 

How?

✧ Identify the field of interest, delve into further research, establish a research problem (in the form of a statement), formulate a research question (based on RP), lastly identify research objectives (achieved from conducting the research)

Week 02: 07.04.2022

Problem Statement, Research Question & Research Objective

Problem Statement (PS)

✧ It is a concise description of the addressed issue or something that can be improved upon, as PS helps the reader to understand the research problem

✧ Identifies the gap between the current (problem) state & desired (goal) state 

Fig 1.1 Problem Statement Example #1 (extracted from DRM week02 notes)

Fig 1.2 Problem Statement Example #2 (extracted from DRM week02 notes)

Research Question (RQ)

✧  It is an answerable inquiry into the specific issue, first step in a research project

✧  The RQ is the ground of the foundation of the research, it needs to be solid.

✧  Basic RQ process: 

    1. Specify specific concern/ issue

    2. Decide what it is that you are curious about the concern/ issue

    3. Turn the curiosity into the specific concern into a question

    4. Ensure that the question is answerable 

    5. Check to make sure question is not too board/narrow

Research Objective (RO)

✧  RO is what we expect to achieve from this project

✧  The statement of RO can be served to guide the activities of research, it is also linked with a hypothesis

Fig 1.3 Research Objective Guide (extracted from DRM week02 notes)

Hypothesis

✧  It is a tentative statement between two or more variables (testable prediction about what is expected to happen in a study)

Variables

✧  Something that's changeable, such as characteristics or values 

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INSTRUCTIONS

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EXERCISE

Draft Proposal - Rationale (05.04.2022)

✧ Week 01 Task: Research the file of interest, and come up with a 200 to 300 words rationale with citation.

Amended Draft Proposal - Rationale (07.04.2022)

✧ [Feedbacks are as mentioned below] I have decided to base my research on the Fashion Genre and how the role & impact of visual elements varies based it's target audiences (TA).

✧ Magazines: QR (TA: Men) // VOGUE (TA: Women)

Draft Proposal - Rationale + Problem Statement (05.04.2022)

✧ Week 02 Task: Come up with the problem statement, research question & research objective

Final Draft Proposal - Rationale (21.04.2022)

✧ [Feedbacks are as mentioned below]

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FEEDBACK

Week 02: 07.04.2022

Lecturer's Feedback: 

✧ Ms Jinchi advised for my research topic, it is important to choose the genre of the magazine. She suggested to have 1 different genre to show the difference in visual elements are played out and how it will reflect it's brand identity. In this instance, we discussed that to go on with the research, I will based it around the Fashion Genre and it's difference in it's Target Audiences, GQ being a more male-targeted magazine & VOGUE being a more female-targeted magazine. In this context, the Role is more of what the magazine does, the impact is how it's consumers get the message. 

Fig 1.1 Consultation with Ms Jinchi via Microsoft Teams

✧ Advice: in the future, for direct quotation, it is best to be short and no longer than what I've inserted. 

✧ Ms Jinchi also remarked that it's important for me to decide what I am researching about, is it just the magazine covers or is it the overall of the magazine. 

Week 03: 14.04.2022

Lecturer's Feedback: 

✧ If it is a Malay or Indian author, remember to use their given name and not the surname when citing and referencing. Full Stop should be after the in-text citation. 

✧ Suggestion for research topic, data collection & literature review: celebrity and brand endorsements in terms of visuals and imagery, be mindful to not make it the main topic as it may sway more towards marketing. It is fine to look up more regarding Pictures on front cover pages. 

✧ The part where I mentioned about the body image on magane covers could be one of the impacts of visual elements, Ms jinchi suggested that i must show that it is not the only impact of visual elements that are being used for magazine covers. I needed to shorten what I've written on the impact of body image. The topic I've written about body image is an implication, a hidden message so to say. What I've written is an example of an impact.

✧ If I am using the word "visual elements" it is okay to repeat it as it shows consistency. Don't have to insert the said magazines that i am going to conduct the research on because i might change the magazines later on. 

✧ When doing a literature review, it is better to be reviewing journal articles, unless it is a short chapter of the book it is okay to review. We are looking at how the researcher was conducting the literature review. When looking at books, it may not be a research book, but its an informative book. 

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