052 | Exploratory Research |
User and product studies intended to forge an empathic knowledge base
- Exploratory research is conducted in the early stages of the design process and set by the planning, scoping, and definition phase.
- The focus is on gaining a solid knowledge base of the design territory and existing artifacts and forging an empathic sense of the people targeted by the design.
- Various diverse yet complementary methods might include contextual inquiry, touchstone tours, surveys, observation, experience sampling, and cultural probes.
- Research is purposefully flexible, encouraging divergence from planned protocols and the inclusion of data from spontaneous interactions and observations.
- Synthesis is critical, but targeted toward inspiration rather than the formal analysis of concrete data.
- Exploratory research culminates in a set of tangible design implications, preparing the groundwork for generative research and concept development.
Contributed by Kelly Nash
See alsoCultural Probes • Design Ethnography • Observation
Exploratory research for a service design project on meat purchasing behaviors included surveys, farm visits, observations, and conversations at meat counters with butchers and consumers.
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