Design Research Dissertation: Draft Dissertation

29/06/2022 - 15/10/2022 (Week 1 - Week 7)
Evaleez Voo Lian Yun / 0350275
Design Research Dissertation/ Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Draft Dissertation

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Lectures

Week 2: Write a Literature Review

Where to Start

• What are the major databases that have been recommended by your lecturers. (In this case, you can refer what you have used during the past critical review articles).
• Consider central research questions and come up with keywords.
• Ask your peers.
• Give a little angled towards your objectives.
• Draw up your bibliography.

How to Search

• Create three or four central questions. 
• Pick your keywords carefully.
• Is your search portal appropriate?
• Is the article cited a lot?
• Best that the article is peer reviewed

How to Assess a Source

• Look at the abstract – is the article relevant? 
• Is the theoretical framework adequately conceptualised?
• In qualitative studies in particular environments (virtual game/video, labs, etc.) is there any indication that the results may have been tampered with in order to fulfil a research expectation? An adequate sample size?
• Is the article or book has been cited often?

Keeping Track of Sources (Zotero/ Mendeley)

• A useful programme for noting all sources
• Allow you to integrate comments, syncs automatically with selected works and gets bibliographical information.

Active Reading Strategies

• Have keywords in mind and mark margins with them.
• Compare to other places you have read – write comparison in the margin. 
• Do not highlight, make a note instead!
• Talk about it with someone.

Concluding the Review

• What are the major trends and who are the main contributors?
• What gaps do you feel can be exploited or require more analysis? Can you contribute?
• Is the review worth continuing and updating or are you happy that any further research would require a wholly new approach?

Week 3: Methodology

Research Design

• Is the architecture of the project: Study type, related to questions, set up data collection in a particular way.
• Example: Narrative research sets up the assumption that people’s stories are important. They can tell us
• something useful. Stories are social products – not facts.
• May be other ways to access experiences/perceptions: Ethnographies, surveys, etc.
• Making an argument that people’s stories are important.
• Need to provide evidence.

Data Collection

• Step-by-step process 
• Context, population(s), sampling
• size, recruitment process,
• instruments, etc.
• Cite sources.
• Example: In-depth interview to access narratives, not short-answe survey, because I want the story to emerge.

Validity and Reliability

• Trustworthiness of data 
• What have you done to ensure the data is reliable and valid?
• Examples: Member checks, audit trails (meticulous documentation), triangulation (more than one source of data), peer review of data, pilot testing of interview.

Data Analysis

• Step-Explain how you will organize the data
• From the literature, work out an analytical strategy
• Constant comparison
• Example: Change over time; action; characters; moral messages; metaphors

Week 4 & 5: Results and Discussion

Results Section

• The Results section should set out your key findings / results, including any statistical analysis and whether or not the results of these are significant.
• You should cover any literature supporting your interpretation of significance.
• Next is to decide what order to use:
• Chronological: follow the methods, 
• Importance: From most to least important in answering of your research questions
• Structured: Following research questions/ research objectives and/or hypothesis.
• Make sure that each table and figure has a number and a title.

Discussion Section

• Review your findings in the context of the literature and the existing knowledge about the subject.
• Demonstrate that you understand the limitations of your research and the implications of your findings for policy and practice.
• If your results are controversial and/or unexpected, you should set them fully in context and explain why you think that you obtained them.
• Conclude by summarising the implications of your findings in brief, and explain why they are important for researchers and in practice, and provide some suggestions for further work.

Week 6: Conclusion, Introduction, Abstract , etc

Conclusion

Includes several elements:

• A brief summary, just a few paragraphs, of your key findings, related back to what you expected to see
• The conclusion which you have drawn from your research
• Why your research is important for researchers and practitioners
• Recommendations for future research
• Recommendations for practitioner 
• A final paragraph rounding off your dissertation.
• Does not need to be very long; few pages isusually sufficient, although detailed recommendations for practice may require more space.

Introduction

• Introduce briefly review of the literature and explain the theoretical framework.
• Indicate how your piece of research will contribute the theoretical understanding of the topic.
• Don’t include too many citations in your introduction: this is your summary of why you want to study this area, and what questions you hope to address.

Abstract

An abstract is a short summary of a longer work of the dissertation . The abstract concisely reports the aims and outcomes of your research so that readers know exactly what this paper or dissertation is about.

What to include:

• Background of your research
• Your research problem
• State the research gap
• Your research objectives
• Your methods
• Your key results or arguments and brief conclusion

Acknoeldegements

Use it to thank:

• Anyone who provided you with information, or who gave you their time as part of your research, for example, interviewees, or those who returned questionnaires
• Any person or body who has provided you with funding or financial support that has enabled you to carry out your research;
• Anyone who has helped you with the writing, including anyone who has read and commente on a draft such as your supervisor, a proof-reader or a language editor, whether paid or unpaid;
• Anyone to whom you are particularly grateful, like your family for tolerating your absence from family occasions for years during your studies.

Appendices

• Appendices should be used for relevant information only, such as copies of your questionnaires or interview outlines, letters asking people to participate or additional proofs.
• You can be reasonably confident that nobody will read them in any detail, so don’t bother to use an appendix to explain why your argument is correct.

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Instructions

Task

We were tasked to put together relevant primary and secondary data to form an analysis, discussion and conclusion revolving our research problem. Afterwards, we are  to utilise primary and secondary data to write an in-depth evaluation, no less than 7000 words, that critically analyses and discusses our research problem and arrive at a conclusion.

• Content required:
• Acknowledgements
• Abstract
• Table of Contents page
• Introduction to the dissertation
• Research Rational, Research Theme/Topic and Research Problem
• Problem statement
• Research objectives
• Research questions
• Research Conceptual Framework Diagram
• Literature review
• Research methodology
• Results/ Findings
• Analysis and discussion
• Conclusion
• Project Recommendation / Future Research
• Reference list
• Picture credit list
• Appendices (sample interview questions and questionnaire questions)

Outcome (Week 7)

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Feedback

Week 2

• Finalise literature review draft draft by interim date
• Use correct citations, especially in text quotes

Week 3

• Finalise research method draft by interim date

Week 4

• Cite why you choose the research method, e.g. find papers on why a survey is good, why qualitative is good, etc.
• Add answers to questionnaire in appendix if too much

Week 7

• It’s good to have someone who can help you proofread
• Make sure to finalise your paper
• Can use the term social media interview in your dissertation but make sure to justify it
• Add a table for the pros and cons in your research methodology

Reflection